小心別混淆「Casual」和「Causal」！

 

我偶爾在社交媒體上看到一則評論，當中作者寫到「casual relationship」（隨意關係），但他的意思其實是「causal relationship」（因果關係）。 「casual」和「causal」這兩個形容詞看起來確實很像，但意思卻非常不同（幾乎完全相反），而且它們的發音也不一樣。 「Casual」(發音：/ˈkæʒəwəl/ or /ˈkæʒjuəl/）的詞義與「非正式」有關，可以在不同語境中表達「隨意的」、「輕鬆的」、「無關重要的」等意思。 例如： We had a casual meeting yesterday.  我們昨天有一場輕鬆的會面 She prefers to wear casual clothes to work. 她比較喜歡穿便服上班 He gave a casual shrug and walked away. 他隨意地聳了聳肩，然後走開了。 They just had a casual relationship that lasted a month. 他們只是有一段維持了一個月的隨便關係 而「causal」 (發音：/ˈkɔzəl/ ，與「casual」第一個音節的母音是不同的)，意思是「與原因有關」，暗指「因果關係」。 例如： There is a causal relationship between exercise and improved health. 運動與健康改善之間存在因果關係 它們在書面上如此相似，因為兩者都有一個共同的字根 – 拉丁文中的動詞「cadere」，意思是「掉落」。 有時，由同一字根演變而成的單字，隨著時間演變，含義有可能會出現這種顯著的差異，甚至使人覺得毫不相關。 就如「casual」和「causal」，同樣衍生自意思為「掉落」的拉丁字根，但演變過程中，「casual」漸漸呈現出「意外地掉落」的意思，相反「causal」則呈現出「落入正確地方」的意思。因此，儘管它們具有相同字根，含義卻截然不同。 這例子說明了，有共同字根的單字在意思上也可能存在巨大的差異。當你想透過在單字之間的字形聯繫來擴展詞彙量時，記得要小心注意這點。 「Causal relationship」指的是一件事「導致」另一件事發生的連鎖關係，而「casual relationship」則指一種「不正式」的關係，錯用它們的話就很尷尬了。

小練習： 以下句子應該用「casual」還是「 causal」?  a) He explained the _______ link between stress and heart disease. 他解釋了壓力與心臟病之間的因果聯繫 b) Their wedding had a very casual set-up. 他們的婚禮安排得非常隨意

Don’t Mix Up “Casual” and “Causal”! I stumbled upon a comment somewhere on social media in which the writer mistakenly wrote “casual relationship*” (隨意關係） when he meant “causal relationship” （因果關係）.  Although the adjectives “casual” and “causal” look similar in writing, they have very different (almost opposite) meanings and are also pronounced differently.  “Casual” (pronunciation: /ˈkæʒəwəl/ or /ˈkæʒjuəl/) has a range of meanings related to the idea of “informality” -- it can men “unplanned,” “accidental,” “relaxed,” “unconcerned” and more in different contexts. For example:  We had a casual meeting yesterday.  我們昨天有一場輕鬆的會面 She prefers to wear casual clothes to work. 她比較喜歡穿便服上班 He gave a casual shrug and walked away. 他隨意地聳了聳肩，然後走開了。 They just had a casual relationship that lasted a month. 他們只是有一段維持了一個月的隨便關係 On the other hand, “causal” (pronunciation: /ˈkɔzəl/ -- with a different vowel from “casual” in the first stressed syllable) means “related to a cause,” suggesting “cause and effect.”  For example: There is a causal relationship between exercise and improved health. 運動與健康改善之間存在因果關係 The interesting thing is that these two adjectives look so similar in writing because they share a common root -- which was borrowed from the Latin verb “cadere,” meaning to “fall.”  Sometimes, words that evolved from the same word root can diverge so significantly in meaning over time that they seem not to be related at all.  “Casual” and “causal,” for example, both evolved from the Latin root meaning to “fall” -- but “casual” took on the meaning of “falling unexpectedly” over time, and “causal” took on the “opposite” meaning of “falling into the right place” over time. As such, these two words are now very different in meaning although they share a root. This is an example showing that words that share word roots can have diverged in meaning significantly -- so, when you try to expand your vocabulary by forming associations between words, you need to make a note of them and be careful. A “causal relationship” means a relationship in which one thing “causes” the other -- whereas a “casual relationship” means a relationship that is “not serious.” Making this mistake can be awkward!

Mini Exercise:   Should it be “casual” or “causal”?  a) He explained the _______ link between stress and heart disease. 他解釋了壓力與心臟病之間的因果聯繫 b) Their wedding had a very casual set-up. 他們的婚禮安排得非常隨意

Answers: (a) causal  (b) casual