Car crash
car crash/wreck – sostantivo
train crash/wreck – sostantivo
The previous government left behind an economic car crash.
It turned out to be a complete car wreck of a movie.
She was widely mocked for her car crash interview with Channel Seven.
They can smell the train wreck coming, but they don’t want to be on it when it does.
It’s train wreck television, but the sort that doesn’t make you feel filthy for having watched it.
Chiamatela curiosità morbosa, mancanza di civiltà, pessima abitudine: certo è che è dura resistere alla tentazione di rallentare per guardare un incidente (in inglese il fenomeno va sotto il nome di rubbernecking). È questo concetto a permeare l’uso metaforico di car crash, train crash e train wreck, termini con i quali ci si riferisce a un disastro, a un megacasino tale che è impossibile non fermarsi a guardarlo, anche se la cosa più logica da fare sarebbe distogliere lo sguardo. L’uso dei termini ricorre soprattutto in riferimento a un fiasco nel mondo dello spettacolo o a una circostanza in cui non si è riusciti a dare il meglio di sé, deludendo le aspettative.
Naturalmente un vero incidente, automobilistico o ferroviario, è una cosa seria e sorprende che sia utilizzato come metafora per situazioni che, per quanto spiacevoli, sono ben lontane dall’essere tragiche.
Origini del termine
Car/train crash è usato principalmente nell’inglese britannico e wreck in quello americano, anche se la linea di demarcazione non è così netta. Nel significato di ‘situazione caotica’ fa la sua comparsa sui giornali nei primi anni 1990.
car crash/wreck – noun
train crash/wreck – noun
The previous government left behind an economic car crash.
It turned out to be a complete car wreck of a movie.
She was widely mocked for her car crash interview with Channel Seven.
They can smell the train wreck coming, but they don’t want to be on it when it does.
It’s train wreck television, but the sort that doesn’t make you feel filthy for having watched it.
The phenomenon of people being unable to look away from an accident is well-known: it even has a name, rubbernecking. This concept extends into the metaphorical use of the terms car crash, train crash and train wreck. All three are widely used to refer to a screw-up so complete, so monumentally awful that you are compelled to keep looking at it, even though the rational thing would be to avert your gaze. The terms are often used to refer to entertainment that has gone catastrophically wrong, or to an occasion when someone completely fails to acquit themselves as expected.
An actual car crash or train wreck is a terrible thing, so it is slightly surprising that both are used as metaphors for situations that, while problematic, are far from being life-threatening.
Origin
Car/train crash is more commonly used in British English and wreck in American English, although there is quite a bit of crossover. The term car crash was first applied to a chaotic situation by journalists in the early 1990s.
