摘要：Before you could be ‘ghosted’ or, worse still, ‘cancelled’, this was the term people would use when they embarked on a systematic

what was being sent to Coventry?

“被送去考文垂”是什么意思？

Before you could be ‘ghosted’ or, worse still, ‘cancelled’, this was the term people would use when they embarked on a systematic denial of your existence.

被"彻底无视"（ghosted），或者更糟的"取消"（canceled）这些词之前，当你被集体系统性排斥时，人们会用这个习语（being sent to Coventry）来形容。

Of course, back in those pre-internet days, this would mean pointedly ignoring your physical presence. If you walked into a room, others would ignore you. Speak and no one would reply. In fact, they would carry on as if you didn’t exist.

当然，在互联网尚未出现的年代，这种排斥体现在对肉身的刻意忽视——当你走进房间无人理会，开口说话无人应答，众人表现得仿佛你根本不存在。

The phrase is a particularly British idiom. But how on earth did a perfectly normal Midlands city like Coventry become a term for social ostracisation?

这个短语是典型的英式表达，但为何这座平平无奇的英国中部城市考文垂会成为社交排斥的代名词？

It is believed to originate from the Civil War, when Royalist prisoners of war were imprisoned there. Coventry was a strongly Parliamentarian stronghold and the locals didn’t take kindly to hosting their monarchist enemies.

据考证其起源可追溯至英国内战时期，当时保王党战俘被押送至考文垂拘禁。这座城邦是坚定的议会派据点，当地居民对收容君主制敌人极为抵触。

As a result, they refused to have anything to do with them and treated them as if they didn’t exist. So, if you supported the King and were sent to Coventry, you knew what to expect.

因此，他们拒绝与战俘产生任何交集，视他们如空气。若是保王党支持者被“送往考文垂”，便知将遭遇何种对待。

The phrase then entered the English language, where it has languished ever since.

这个短语从此融入英语体系，但始终未能广泛流传。

In recent years, though, with the growth of ‘cancel culture’ and the ever-expanding encroachment of American-English idioms, the practice of ‘sending people to Coventry’ is seen as increasingly archaic and irrelevant.

近年来随着"取消文化"的兴起和美式英语表达的不断侵蚀，"将人送往考文垂"的说法显得越发陈旧过时。

There are scores of younger people who have never even heard the phrase and will walk away on hearing it, baffled at what poor old Coventry has done to deserve those whom nobody wants to acknowledge.

众多年轻人甚至从未听闻这个说法，听到时只会困惑转身，暗自琢磨：可怜的考文垂究竟做错了什么，竟要与那些无人愿搭理之辈沦为一谈？

#英语俚语#

本文选译自The_Oldie_-_October_2025。

来源：帝顿教育