多年以來，如果有人要我拼寫“commiserate（同情）”這個詞，我就會讓他們失望。

我嫉妒對詞源學(xué)感興趣的人，但我尊敬能闡釋音樂神奇力量的人——曾經(jīng)有個評論員說極地雙子星樂隊（Cocteau Twins）的音樂是上帝的聲音，我想知道ta還信不信自己說過的話。ta肯定信的，不然上帝的聲音應(yīng)該是什么樣？

即便現(xiàn)在我懂得多了一些，當(dāng)我看到“misericordia（拉丁語的mercy）”這個詞，我依然想到受苦，而不是原諒；

我們在同情的時候，將我們聯(lián)結(jié)在一起的不是仁慈，而是苦難。

因此，讓我們把這個歷史的膿腫，叫做“偉大的同情”吧。

affliction（痛苦）和affection（喜愛）的區(qū)別，在于一個小小的“flick”、“l(fā)ick”——但看仔細(xì)了，有一個“l(fā)ie”躲在字母中間，多巧啊。

年復(fù)一年，我們的朋友對于各種損失越來越坦率：讓我用你的痛苦來賺錢好嗎？我的朋友“公司”說道。

努力融入一個城市的時的時候，在我腦海中，它的名字總會自動更正為“永遠”：我要在“永遠”待一個星期，“永遠”今年特別熱；“永遠”的東西好貴，但這里的博物館簡直太棒了。

這座城市的所有苦難，都是我們的。

At the End of the Endless Decade

Mark Bibbins

For years had anyone needed me

to spell the word commiserate

I'd have disappointed them. I envy

people who are more excited

by etymology than I am, but not

the ones who can explain how

music works—I wonder whether

the critic who wrote

that the Cocteau Twins were the voice

of god still believes it. Why not,

what else would god sound like.

Even though I know better, when I see

the word misericordia I still think

suffering, not forgiveness;

when we commiserate we are united

not in mercy but in misery,

so let's go ahead and call this abscess

of history the Great Commiseration.

The difference

between affliction and affection

is a flick, a lick—but check

again, what lurks in the letters

is “l(fā)ie,” and what kind of luck

is that. As the years pile up

our friends become more vocal

about their various damages:

Won't you let me monetize

your affliction, says my friend

the corporation. When I try to enter

the name of any city

it autocorrects to Forever:

I'm spending a week in Forever,

Forever was hotter than ever

this year, Forever's expensive

but oh the museums,

and all of its misery's ours.