“家庭妇男”怎么说？

(2008-10-06 14:30:41)

你知道丈夫的含义吗？——丈夫、丈夫，一丈之内乃夫也！你知道英文husband是怎么来的吗？——husband=house+band 房屋栓牢！（band的含义就是Something that constrains or binds morally or legally约束：在道义上或法律上受到限制或约束的事物。比如说the bands of marriage and family婚姻和家庭的约束）这当然有玩笑的成分，不过也表明了丈夫和家庭的密切联系。我们都知道housewife是“家庭妇女”的意思，那么，你知道“家庭妇男”用英语该怎么说吗？

“家庭妇男”的说法很简单，就是由house房子和husband丈夫组成的，即house-husband。说“家庭妇男”多多少少都带点贬低色彩，而 “全职爸爸”则是一个比较中性的说法，指没有负担家庭经济责任的父亲，在现实中，他们生活重心以料理家务、照顾子女或自我休闲为主。A house-husband is a man who stays at home and doesn't go to work, while his wife goes to work and earns money. Usually a man becomes a house-husband in order to look after children.

Sociologists have found the full-time househusband emerges in three main situations.

Firstly, if the wife is ambitious, well-paid and has good job prospects, while her husband is paid poorly and has no job prospects, it makes economic sense for the female to become the main income earner for the household. 第一：妻子有个好工作并且挣得比丈夫多。

Secondly, if the wife is tired of household chores and eager to work outside the home, her husband may forfeit his job for her sake.

第二：妻子乐意主外，而丈夫有成人之美。

Thirdly, if the husband can do his work at home, he may take this option as it allows him more time to take care of the family. 第三：丈夫可以在家办公，从而有条件多花心思在家里。

Housemaker是house-wife和house-husband的统称。当强调在家照看孩子职责的时候，我们也可以称house-wife为stay-at-home mom，称house-husband为stay-at-home dad。还有一种"domestic engineer"的委婉说法，不过这种说法多少对居家者有种讽刺挖苦的味道，所以一定要慎用。与之类似的"housekeeper"这个词也要小心使用，因为它同样用于挖苦居家者。

有关house-husband的新闻：

In a traditional Chinese family, women are expected to do the housekeeping and leave the "other business" to men. However, the emergence of the full-time "househusband" is changing traditional family dynamics.

A survey in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen shows that 22 percent, 73 percent, 34 percent and 32 percent of white-collar male workers, aged between 28 and 33, would be prepared to do the housekeeping if the conditions were right.

有关house-husband的对话：

A: Will you go back to work after you have the baby?

B: Oh yeah!

A: Who'll look after the baby when you're at work then?

B: My husband--he's going to quit his job and become a house husband. I earn more than him, so it makes sense really. And he loves kids, so he'll enjoy it.

Some families with full-time househusbands prefer others not to know about their arrangement, concerned people would laugh at a husband with "no prospects" or wife who is "too strong", but it's getting more common. 有些男人一开始可能还觉得当“全职爸爸”不好意思，不过现在这种情况越来越普遍了。Many of the young men believe a successful man will make a good father. 成功的男人也能做个成功的父亲，你是不是也坚信这点呢？