| 词条 | A good day to die (phrase) |
| 释义 |
In "Campaigns of General Custer in the North-west, and the Final Surrender of Sitting Bull" published in 1881, author Judson Elliott Walker relates an account from Low Dog, as told to Captain Howe of the Standing Rock Agency: "I [Low Dog] called to my men: 'This is a good day to die; follow me'". This is the first known (published) use of the phrase.{{citation needed|reason=Without proper evidence, this is just a claim.|date=November 2014}} In "Black Elk Speaks" published in 1932, recounting the Battle of the Little Bighorn described the warriors under Crazy Horse: "...off toward the west and north they were yelling " Hokahey!" like a big wind roaring, and making the tremolo; and you could hear eagle bone whistles screaming". "Hokahey" is simply an exclamation to draw attention, similar to a coach saying, "Let's do it!" It is likely neither Low Dog nor Crazy Horse ever said, "Today is a good day to die," which is the English bastardization of a common Sioux battle-cry, "Nake nula wauŋ welo!" ("nake nula waun"). This phrase means, "I am ready for whatever comes." It was meant to show the warriors were not afraid of the battle or dying in it. Another author describes it as the ending of a Lakota Sioux prayer.[2] {{quotation|Regarding the war cry "today is a good day to die," most presume the now-popular statement refers to patriotic sentiment. That is, warriors should always be willing to die while proudly defending their families and home territory. Indeed, such was probably at the heart of the phrase when skirmishing the cavalry. An unsolicited interpretation offered by an Ottawa woman, however, carried a different meaning. "We Indians have an expression 'today is a good day to die.' It means that we should be ready to die on any given day. We should always be prepared to die, and have no regrets. That's why it's important to begin each day fresh, and not let past problems or present distractions cloud how God wants us to live."[3]}}The 1998 film Smoke Signals plays with this concept: {{quote|Hence, the film self-consciously references other westerns, most notably Little Big Man, with its line "It's a good day to die" refigured in three different ways in Smoke Signals: "Sometimes it's a good day to die and sometimes it's a good day to play basketball", "It's a good day to be indigenous", and "Sometimes it's a good day to die and sometimes it's a good day to have breakfast”.[4]}}References1. ^Marc Okrand, Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (1997), p. 6-7. 2. ^Elaine Fletcher-Janzen, Multicultural Perspectives on the Neuropsychological Assessment and Treatment of Epilepsy, in Elaine Fletcher-Janzen, Tony L. Strickland, and Cecil Reynolds, Handbook of Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (2000), p. 193. 3. ^Michael F. Steltenkamp, Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala (1997), p. 28. 4. ^Neil Campbell, The Rhizomatic West: Representing the American West in a Transnational, Global Media Age (2008), p. 250. 1 : Phrases |
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