grapevine 的词源

“grape-vine”这个词最早出现在1736年，是由grape（葡萄）和vine（藤）组合而成。1863年，它开始被用来表示“谣言”或“秘密的、非常规的信息传播方式”。这个意思源于“grapevine telegraph”这个短语，它在美国内战期间被用来指代“秘密的信息和谣言来源”。这不仅指的是南方人在北方占领下的情况，也涉及到黑人社区和逃亡奴隶的情境。

The false reports touching rebel movements, which incessantly circulated in Nashville, brings us to the consideration of the "grapevine telegraph"—a peculiar institution of rebel generation, devised for the duplex purpose of "firing the Southern heart," and to annoy the "Yankees." It is worthy of attention, as one of the signs of the times, expressing the spirit of lying which war engenders. But it is no more than just to say that there is often so little difference between the "grapevine" and the associated press telegraph, that they might as well be identical. ["Rosecrans' Campaign with the Fourteenth Corps," Cincinnati, 1863]

关于叛军动向的虚假报道，像是在纳什维尔不断流传的那些，让我们不得不提到“grapevine telegraph”——这是叛军时代特有的现象，旨在“双重目的”：一是“激励南方人民的斗志”，二是为了烦扰“北方佬”。这个现象值得关注，它反映了战争所带来的谎言精神，是那个时代的一个标志。但也可以说，“grapevine”与通讯社电报之间的区别往往微乎其微，以至于它们几乎可以视为同义词。[摘自《罗斯克兰斯与第十四军团的战役》，辛辛那提，1863年]