心臟、蝴蝶、後空翻

Backflip 這個字在幾本辭典中所能找到的解釋，我懷疑比較靠近 heart was doing backflips 的有 W3 的 a complete reversal of position or belief；以及 RHD 的 a complete reversal in attitude or policy。如果再將 heart 當成接近 mind 的意思來解讀，再看該句的前半段 he was thirty-five years old ，我懷疑是不是要說 Becker 還是「童心未泯」呢？

既然找不到 heart was doing backflips 這個 collocation 總該找人問問看。於是寫信給 Merriam-Webster 辭典公司的 Language Research Service ，這是一個 MW 公司提供給辭典用戶的問題解答信箱。

兩天之後，一封信回來了，我節錄當中的重點如下 (沒有全文轉載，並且隱匿回信人的姓名，主要在於尊重 MW 的編輯部)：

“His heart was doing backflips” is a common figurative expression in English. A person whose heart is doing backflips is very nervous or excited about something. The heart is traditionally considered to be the seat of a person’s emotions, so when it is said that a person’s heart is doing backflips, it means that person is undergoing a very emotional experience.

The phrase is often used to describe someone who is in love with or attracted to another person, and that is how Dan Brown is using the phrase in the excerpt you cite.

我看到了 nervous or excited about something 這幾個關鍵字。但是，我不認同那是一個 common figurative expression in English 。

我經常寫信給 MW 公司的 Language Research Service 對於他們的作業習慣有些不太能接受。外界進來的問題，只由一位編輯人員答覆；而且如果覺得不是答得徹底，再接著問通常就如石沉大海。每當我從回信中看到幾 個 probably 時，信心總會大打折扣。以前曾經調皮地回信，問問回信的編輯，可否多找幾個人討論看看再答覆。嘿嘿，no way!

看過 William and Mary Morris 編輯的 Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, Second Edition 我總是怕怕，同樣母語人士，同樣受過高等教育，對於詞語的看法有時候還真相差極大，該用法辭典就以數據紀錄各方看法。總之，我怕我得到的答案來自非主流派，因而會有誤導。

於是，我再調皮一次，針對兩個重點，回了該編輯的信深入探討。一個重點是，這真的是常見的用法嗎？如果是常見用法，為何全部的辭典都沒收錄？另一個重點是，以後的 MW 辭典是否會收錄？我的信是有那麼一點挑釁的味道，原文如下：

Before I wrote the mail of query, I’d looked it up in a few dictionaries, which included Oxford English Dictionary, Shorter OED, Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, and The New Oxford American Dictionary. All those smaller than college edition ones were not listed here.

None of them gave definition for the collocated “heart was doing backflips.” Only Webster’s Unabridged and Random House Unabridged had figurative definitions for backflip. Therefore, I wondered the phrase is a common figurative expression.

Will this phrase be included in the future version of Merriam-Webster’s dictionaries? Or there will be a new dictionary to collect the phrases like this one, in case it is a common expression.