In English internet slang, “Hump Day” refers to Wednesday -- because Wednesday is the middle of the week, and, past this mid-week “hump,” you are closer to the end of the work week.
Let’s just take it easy this “Hump Day” and look at this expression.
A “hump” is a noun that means a raised mound or bump. It usually refers to bumps (like traffic bumps) on the road or to the raised parts on a camel’s back.
In this slang term “Hump Day,” “hump” refers to the hump on a camel’s back. The imagery is that starting the work week on Monday is like going up the hump, and Wednesday is like the top of the hump. Once you are past this “Wednesday hump” in the middle, you go back down, and it is downhill smooth sailing until the end of the work week, onto the long-awaited weekend.
Well, the funny thing to me about this expression and the imagery it evokes is that only the “Dromedary” type of camel works. 😆
I don’t know if you know this, but there are two main types of camels in the world. In English, these two types are called “Dromedary” camels and “Bactrian” camels. These are relatively commonly known terms in English rather than super obscure scientific terms.
“Dromedaries” have one hump and live in hot deserts, whereas “Bactrians” have two humps and live in cold deserts.
Well, the expression “Hump Day” only works with “Dromedaries.” If we were talking about “Bactrians,” with two humps, the imagery would kind of be reverse, because Wednesday would be at the trough between the two humps, haha. 😆
The majority of the world’s camels are “Dromedaries” -- perhaps that’s why the expression draws on them.
But, at least to people living in Asia like us, we often also default to thinking about Bactrian camels because they live in Central Asia (like in Mongolia) and are so close to our imagination.
Anyway, don’t be confused by the expression “Hump Day” -- it only works with one-humped camels. 😆🐪
Start building your vocabulary web systematically here:
Happy Hump Day! 🐪
在英文網絡用語裡，“Hump Day” 指星期三 —— 因為星期三正好在工作週的中間，而過了這個「週中駝峰」，就更接近週末了。
我們今個 Hump Day 就輕鬆一點，來看看這個 expression。
英文字 “hump” 是名詞，意思是「隆起的小土丘或凸起」。它通常指馬路上的減速丘，或者駱駝背上的那個隆起的駝峰。
在這個 expression “Hump Day” 中，「hump」指的是駱駝背上的駝峰。想像一下：星期一開始上班就像在往駝峰的坡往上爬，星期三就像到達駝峰的頂端。過了星期三這個「駝峰」，就一路往下、越來越靠近週末。
不過，這個表達方式在想像上有個好笑的地方 —— 它只適用於「單峰駱駝」(Dromedary camels)。😆
我不知道你是否知道，世界上主要有兩種駱駝。
在英文，它們的名稱是：Dromedary camels（單峰駱駝）和 Bactrian camels（雙峰駱駝）。
這兩個字在英文裡算是常見的名稱，不是那種非常專業的科學詞。
單峰駱駝 (Dromedary camels) 住在熱沙漠，有一個駝峰；而雙峰駱駝 (Bactrian camels) 則住在冷沙漠，有兩個駝峰。
但你想想 —— “Hump Day” 的意象只適用於單峰駱駝。
如果套在雙峰駱駝身上，用兩個駝峰來比喻星期三，那星期三反而是兩個駝峰中間的「谷底」，整個比喻完全反轉了，哈哈。😆
世界上大多數的駱駝其實是單峰駱駝 —— 或許這就是為什麼這個expression 會以它們為基礎。
但對我們住在亞洲的人來說，腦海裡容易浮現的反而是雙峰駱駝，因為它們生活在中亞（例如蒙古），離我們的想像更近。
總之，看到 “Hump Day” 不要困惑 —— 那個意象只是關於長著一個駝峰的駱駝。😆🐪
如果你喜歡這種把英文生字背後的意象、聯想、和意思網絡串連起來的方式 ——
可以看看我的《Boost Your Vocabulary》課程。
我們會用更多這類有趣但脈絡清晰的方法，讓你更有系統地建立自己的英文生字網絡：