booby (noun, informal)
/ˈbuːbi/
Don’t be a booby—check the map before you drive.
别犯傻——开车前先看看地图。
Early sailors described certain island seabirds as “boobies” because they were easy to catch, and the word later also became a casual insult for a foolish person.
早期水手把某些岛上的海鸟称为“boobies”,因为它们很容易被抓到;后来这个词也逐渐演变成对“傻瓜”的随口贬称。
booby 很可能来自西班牙语 bobo(“愚笨的、傻的”)。最初这个词被用来称呼某些不太怕人、容易被抓的海鸟(因此显得“呆”),随后引申为对人的非正式贬称“傻瓜”。相关复合词 booby trap(“诡雷;陷阱”)则是在近现代军事语境中固定下来,用来指“看似普通却会触发伤害的装置”。