说话，真可谓是个艺术活儿。这不昨天同事小何本想着鼓励 Tony 别成天宅在家里，休息的时候也多去健健身，本来是好意，却因为他说了一句“You are too fat!” 导致 Tony 立马儿黑了脸......直接给顶回了一句“It's none of your business, your words were close to the bone!”

相信大家都明白前半句 Tony 说的是“这可不关你的事”, 可关键就在于后半句里的这个“close to the bone”, 大家可别傻傻地直译成“挨着骨头太近”哈，其实这个短语很好理解，指的就是那些让人听上去感到非常不自在、不舒服的话，也就是形容某人所说的话非常“不客气、不圆滑，太过直白和坦率了”，以至于听着特别刺耳。

be close to the bone / near the bone

太过直白 ; 过于直率 ; 露骨的；刺耳的；(说话或写文章)尖酸刻薄的，不客气的；

【En】

if something someone says is close to the bone, it makes you feel uncomfortable or offends you, especially because it is about something you do not want to admit is true.

如果某人说的某件事接近骨头(close to the bone)，它会让你感到不舒服或冒犯，尤其是因为它是关于你不想承认的事情。

a remark, statement etc that is close to the bone is close to the truth in a way that may offend someone.

直截了当的话、陈述等接近事实，可能冒犯某人。

it is very close to the truth or to the real nature of something.

非常接近真相，或事物的真实本质。

Very close to the truth in a hurtful way.

以一种伤害性的方式接近真相。

● His jokes were a bit close to the bone.

他讲得笑话有点儿太露骨了。

【Scenario Example 场景示例】

● Some of his comments about her appearance were a bit close to the bone.

他对她外貌的一些评论有点太直白了.

● Some of the things she said to him about his failure to find work were a bit close to the bone.

她对他说的关于他没能找到工作的一些话，有点儿太不客气了。

● His jokes are rather close to the bone.

他的笑话太离谱了。

● Of course I'm mad—dad's remarks about how I'm wasting my life were close to the bone.

我当然生气了——老爸说我这是在浪费生命，这些话简直太刺耳了。

● This isn't strictly satire, it's far too close to the bone to be funny.

这不是严格意义上的讽刺，它太过直白了，一点儿也不好笑。

● You shouldn't talk about marriage when Laura is around. It's too near the bone. She has just left her husband.

劳拉在的时候真不应该谈论婚姻的事儿，太刺耳了。她可是刚离开她的丈夫。

● Penny said `Let's talk about Christina.' But for Buck, this was getting dangerously close to the bone.

佩妮说:“我们谈谈克里斯蒂娜吧。”但对巴克来说，这些话听起来感到非常不自在。（越来越刺耳了）

● `We'd better end here because this is getting...' She did not finish the sentence, but I guess she was going to say `too near to the bone'.

`我们最好到此为止，因为这越来越……“ 她没把话说完，但我猜她想说的是“太尖刻了”。

出处：见配图水印