a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

英語

外語每日一詞 – 2025年9月25日

詞源

這是一句著名的女性主義口號，由澳洲電影製作人、社會活動家和作家伊琳娜·鄧恩（1948年－）於1970年創造；根據她的回憶，這句話改編自她在一本哲學文本中讀到的短語 A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle (“男人需要上帝就像魚需要自行車”)。^[1]原始短語似乎是 A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle (“沒有信仰的男人就像沒有自行車的魚”)，由查爾斯·S·哈里斯（Charles S. Harris）於1955年創造，並發表在1958年《斯沃斯莫爾鳳凰報》（Swarthmore Phoenix）的一篇文章中。^[2]這句話經常被錯誤地被認為是美國女性主義記者和社會政治活動家格洛麗亞·斯泰納姆（1934年－）所創，但她在2000年9月16日發表於《時代》（Time）雜誌的一封信中否認了這一點。^[3]

發音

(標準英音) 國際音標^(幫助): /ə ˈwʊmən wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈmæn ɪz laɪk ə ˈfɪʃ wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈbaɪsɪkl̩/
(通用美式) 國際音標^(幫助): /ə ˈwʊmən wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈmæn ɪz laɪk ə ˈfɪʃ wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈbaɪˌsɪkəl/
音頻 (美國)： (檔案)
斷字：a wo‧man with‧out a man is like a fish with‧out a bi‧cyc‧le

短語

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

(比喻義，幽默，明喻) 沒有男人的女人就像沒有自行車的魚（指女人能夠過上完整而獨立的生活，不需要男人）（自1970年起）
- 1975年 1月25日，「Column 8」，收錄於The Sydney Morning Herald，42,779期，Sydney, N.S.W.：John Fairfax & Sons，→ISSN，→OCLC，第1頁，第8列：
  We found this anonymous contribution to International Women's Year on a wall at Forest Lodge: "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."
  我們在森林小屋的一面牆上發現了這句為國際婦女年所作的匿名標語：「沒有男人的女人就像沒有自行車的魚。」
  顯然是該短語首次出現在印刷品中。
- 1990，Jane Adams，Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty: How to Live Happily Ever After—Starting Right Now，New York, N.Y.：William Morrow and Company，→ISBN，107頁：
  No matter how hip or how liberated I got to be, I could never really convince my deepest self that a woman without a man, at least when the music started, was like a fish without a bicycle.
  無論我變得多麼時髦或多麼解放，我永遠無法真正說服我內心深處相信，沒有男人的女人，至少當音樂響起時，就像沒有自行車的魚。
- 2009，Wesley L. Ford，「Safe Conduct: Guidelines for an Affair of the Heart」，收錄於How to Pick a Lover: For Women Who Want to Win at Love，[Bloomington, Ind.]：Xlibris，→ISBN，359頁：
  Women who are ideologically opposed to marriage would go along with Gloria Steinem's^[sic] commonly quoted maxim: "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." If, whatever your reasons, you are adamantly not the marrying kind, then it is important for you to make that clear to any man who becomes involved with you.
  在意識形態上反對婚姻的女性會同意格洛麗亞·斯泰納姆【原文如此】常被引用的格言：「沒有男人的女人就像沒有自行車的魚。」如果無論出於什麼原因，你堅決不是結婚的那種人，那麼你必須向任何與你交往的男人明確表明這一點。
- 2012，Hanne Blank，「The Marrying Type」，收錄於Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality，Boston, Mass.：Beacon Press，→ISBN：
  By 1962, well before the so-called "sexual revolution" or even the feminist slogan "a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle," Helen Gurley Brown could write in Sex and the Single Girl, "I think marriage is insurance for the worst years of your life.["]
  到1962年，遠在所謂的「性革命」之前，甚至在女性主義口號「沒有男人的女人就像沒有自行車的魚」出現之前，海倫·格利·布朗（Helen Gurley Brown）就能在《性與單身女郎》（Sex and the Single Girl）中寫道：「我認為婚姻是為你人生最糟糕的歲月準備的保險。」
- 2014 November，Mary McHugh，Chorus Lines, Caviar, and Corpses: A Happy Hoofers Mystery，Kensington Publishing Corp.，→ISBN，28頁：
  "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle," I said. "One of these days you're going to want another bicycle," she said, laughing.
  「沒有男人的女人就像沒有自行車的魚，」我說。「總有一天你會想要另一輛自行車的，」她笑著說。

其他形式

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

參考資料

↑ Confirmed in an e-mail from Dunn dated 28 January 2002: see John S. Allen (2000–2001), “A Bit of Herstory: The Definitive Word on the Origin!”, in The Fish and Bicycle Page: Exploring Some (Fast?) Eddies in the Stream of American Culture‎^[1], archived from the original on 2 October 2002。
↑ Roccatorso [pseudonym; Charles S. Harris] (7 April 1958), “Quote”, in The Swarthmore Phoenix: Student Newspaper of Swarthmore College, volume 78, number 20 (indicated as 18), Swarthmore, Pa.: Students of Swarthmore College, →OCLC, page 2, column 3: see Nigel Rees, compiler (2001), Cassell’s Humorous Quotations, London: Cassell, →ISBN, pages 459–460; and Garson O’Toole (18 October 2016), “A Woman Without a Man is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle”, in Quote Investigator‎^[2], retrieved 20 February 2021
↑ Gary Martin (1997–), “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”, in The Phrase Finder.

[1] Confirmed in an e-mail from Dunn dated 28 January 2002: see John S. Allen (2000–2001), “A Bit of Herstory: The Definitive Word on the Origin!”, in The Fish and Bicycle Page: Exploring Some (Fast?) Eddies in the Stream of American Culture‎^[1], archived from the original on 2 October 2002。

[2] Roccatorso [pseudonym; Charles S. Harris] (7 April 1958), “Quote”, in The Swarthmore Phoenix: Student Newspaper of Swarthmore College, volume 78, number 20 (indicated as 18), Swarthmore, Pa.: Students of Swarthmore College, →OCLC, page 2, column 3: see Nigel Rees, compiler (2001), Cassell’s Humorous Quotations, London: Cassell, →ISBN, pages 459–460; and Garson O’Toole (18 October 2016), “A Woman Without a Man is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle”, in Quote Investigator‎^[2], retrieved 20 February 2021

[3] Gary Martin (1997–), “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”, in The Phrase Finder.

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