《老友记》经典口语第17讲
【场景再现】
(Chandler办公室里有一个really really cute的女职员Nina，但是她却给Chandler带来了麻烦……)
Nina: Hi.
Chandler: Hi, Nina. Come on in.
Nina: You wanted to see me?
Chandler: Uh, Yes. Yes. I’ve just been going over your data here, and little thing, you’ve been post-dating your Friday numbers.
Nina: Which is bad, because?
Chandler: Well, it throws my WENUS out of whack.
Nina: Your... excuse me?
Chandler: WENUS. (Coughs) Weekly Estimated Net...
Nina: Oh, Net Usage Statistics, right. Gotcha, gotcha. Won’t happen again. I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt your... "wenus."
【讲解】
out of whack 紊乱，不正常，不对劲
Whack 最早出现在18世纪，用来表示“用力抽打”，可能是根据重击的声音仿造而来的词。
Whack在18世纪晚期成为小偷们的行话，用来表示“分赃”，后来转变为“协定或成交”。到19世纪晚期，whack 的含义进一步发展为“契约；期望”，这样，out of whack便可解释成“脱离契约；出乎意料”，也就是“偏轨；不正常”了。
Whack的形容词形式whacky后来被写成wacky，意思是“疯癫的、发狂的”。另一个词wacko表示“疯狂的人”，极有可能是因为头部受到了重击。例如：
This spreadsheet is out-of-whack. Those entries don't make sense and don't belong there.
