“Off Message” 　[ 分类:阅读 Reading ]

　　昨天半夜看到《Newsweek》新一期的封面。和《Time》一样，说的都是国会众议院马克·福利用邮件和即时通讯软件骚扰实习侍从官的事情。《Time》将事件联系到了日渐没落的共和党身上，而《Newsweek》更侧重揭秘性质的调查报道。
　　《Newsweek》的封面标题是“Off Message”。看完全文依然搞不清楚这个词背后的奥妙，于是请教了同办公室的杜然、danwei.org的金玉米和China Daily的周黎明三位大虾。
　　金玉米用标准普通话(南非人民的中文发音真是比福建人民地道太多了，超惭愧)在电话里说：

　　封面上的“off message”有两个意思。
　　首先它是一个公关用语。比如说BP公司开个新闻发布会，他们就会不停地说环保环保环保环保……。但是说到后来，他们就忘了自己该说什么了，说了些没必要说的事情，就叫“off message”。
　　还有另外一个意思。“Off”可以指某个东西变坏了，比如东西在冰箱里放久了，就变烂了，腐败了。“Message”当然就是指这个国会议员用IM什么的与人联络。
　　要把这两个意思用一个中文词表达出来还真的比较难。

　　周黎明大师在邮件里回复道：

　I agree with Jeremy on the explanation. The word "off" here can also carry connotation such as "turned off", "going off", etc. It probably does not fit into any one specific dictionary-sanctified definition, but rather implies many of them.

　　杜然的朋友也发来了解答，和金玉米的解释非常像：

　"On message" is a political term that implies that a candidate is talking about what he is supposed to talk about. Suppose that the campaign decided that the best thing to talk about today is taxes. And the candidate goes out, talks with voters and reporters and only talks about taxes. He is "on message". If he starts talking about energy or the environment, he may be talking truthfully or even skillfully. But it is not a disciplined approach to campaigning.
　One of the important messages in the Republican Party is that people who would have sex with children are terrible and ought to be severely punished. However, it appears that this Congressman sought sex with young guys (under 18). If also appears that many leading Republicans knew about it. So it looks like the Republicans care about punishing people who have sex with children--except when they do it.
　So this whole scandal is way "off message".
　I hope this helps.

　　那么，用什么中文词可以把这个“Off Message”翻译过来呢？