Beat one’s gums 嘮叨，廢話連篇

在beat one’s gums這個習慣用語里，gum這個詞有完全不同的含義。它指的是人的牙齦。Beat one’s gums，是從五十多年前第二次世界大戰期間開始流傳的俚語。意思是嘮嘮叨叨、沒完沒了地抱怨。這往往出于習慣，或者只是沒話找話說。

例句 If I didn’t hear my men beating their gums about how bad the chow was, or how hard they worked, I worried. When they were too quiet, I was afraid they were losing their fighting spirit.

要是我聽不到我的部下沒完沒了地抱怨伙食有多差勁，或者他們干活有多辛苦，那我就得擔心了。當他們過于沉默的時候，我害怕他們的斗志消沉了。

嘮叨抱怨也許是人所難免的行為，但是要是做得太過火，就會成了問題，令人生厭。在下面例子里，名叫Oscar的家伙就是這樣一個人。說話的人是在給一位新同事一點忠告。

例句 Look, you don’t want to get a desk anywhere close to that guy Oscar. He’ll drive you crazy - he loves to beat his gums anytime he has anybody close enough to be an audience for him.

喂，你可千萬別靠近Oscar那家伙的辦公桌，他會把你煩死了。任何時候只要附近有任何人能聽他說話，他就會羅嗦個沒完沒了。