人在雪梨...
常常會有一些疑問... 
就是........................
那些英文字分開來明明都看得懂....
啊.... 怎麼合起來就完全不暸.......

這是一個租車公司的廣告...

" no birds " -- 沒有鳥......

啊... 不就... 是.... "不會放鳥....." 

耶.... 那好像是台語翻過來的耶... " ㄇㄟ 棒跤阿"  

 這太扯了吧.....

咦... 以前英文老師不是都說....

no 的後面不能接複數名詞嗎?

OK.... 看月亮的人.-- 就是"我"  決定抱著我那二十年的老字典查看看....

(我只帶了我那本二十年的老字典來澳洲.... 除了電腦以外... 我其實比較愛我那本字典...)

啊哈..... 果然平常沒有認真聽課....

原來.... NO 的後面是可以加複數名詞或物質名詞, 抽象名詞的...

example - 1 : He has no brothers. 表示強調他一個兄弟都沒有...

example -2 : There are no clouds in the sky. 也是強調一點雲都沒有..

網路上搜尋的結果... 幾乎只有AU的租車公司才會使用"no birds"  這樣的用法...

於是上網查他們的網站...

沒想到真的有耶....

(以下資訊轉貼自http://www.bayswatercarrental.com.au/faqNSW.aspx)

"... no birds" - What does it mean?

Our staff are all asked this question several times a day. Our clients often have their own theories such as:

• no worries
• no bird poo on the cars
• no hassles
• no women allowed to drive our cars
• no lemons
• Avis is apparently Latin for birds therefore "no birds"

The truth is this:
30 years ago the large (and expensive) Rental Companies used young women to advertise their brands and deliver cars to clients at their office/hotel/home/airport. With our cut price rates we could never afford to offer these services, so we light heartily used the tag “…no birds” to demonstrate our point of difference. Nowadays as many people know us as No Birds Car Rental as Bayswater Car Rental.

大意是說...

在三十年前, 大型的租車公司都是請年輕的小姐作為活招牌並由她們將車送至辦公室/旅館/機場. 而以我們這樣便宜的價格是不可能提供這樣的服務的, 所以我們便以此為標語".... no birds"來顯示我們的不同.....

當然.... 看到這裡你可能也跟我一樣...

年輕的小姐... 跟 "birds" 什麼關係....

有..... 關係可大了...

在英國(澳洲是英語體系的... 非美語體系...) 的俚語中... bird  就是指年輕小姐....

(以下資料轉貼自 Cambridge Dictionary online)

bird (PERSON)   Show phonetics
noun [C]
1 OLD-FASHIONED a particular type of person:
He's a rare bird, is Nick.

2 UK SLANG a young woman:

Is that Lee's new bird?

3 INFORMAL old bird an older woman:
DISAPPROVING This old bird was lecturing the shop assistant about her manners.
APPROVING She's a game old bird (= energetic and willing to do risky things).

也就像 在台灣會說"馬子" 是年輕漂亮的女人.. 是一樣的....

所以啦....

" no birds" 也就是說.... 它們是"便宜"的租車公司...

不過... 我不太知租車的行情....  我也不太懂這倒底是不是便宜....

想知道... 就自己上網站看看吧.... 非廣告....