keep your pecker up振作精神；鼓起勇气

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

Pecker here refers not to the penis，as many people believe，but to the lip．Pecker has been British slang for lip，corresponding as it does to the beak，or pecker，of a bird，since the middle of the nineteenth century，when we first find this expression meaning“screw up your courage，keep a stiff upper lip．”(Pecker，for the male organ，has been slang only since the late nineteenth century．)The first recorded use of the phrase is impeccably British：“Keep up your pecker，old fellow”(1853)．A more specific explanation is that it refers to a gamecock’s bill，the bird’s bill or pecker sinking lower toward the ground as he grows more tired and near defeat．

这里的pecker并不像许多人认为的那样是指“阴茎”，而是指“嘴唇”。自19世纪中叶起，pecker一直是英国俚语，意为“嘴唇”，与指鸟嘴的beak或pecker相类似。那时该用语开始意为“振作精神；鼓起勇气”。Pecker指男性器官，只是从19世纪末才成为俚语。该用语最早的文字记录无疑是英国英语：“老兄，振作起精神来”(1853)。更为确切的解释是，pecker指的是斗鸡场上的鸡嘴。当鸡感到越来越疲乏，临近失败时，鸡嘴就朝着地面下垂。因此，keep your pecker up，其字面意思是“保持嘴巴向上”，就意为“振作精神；鼓起勇气”了。