A facepalm is the physical gesture of placing one's hand flat across one's face or lowering one's face into one's hand or hands. The gesture is found in many cultures as a display of frustration¹, embarrassment², shock, or surprise.

 

Facepalm指的是用手捂住脸或将脸埋进手掌的姿体语言，这一姿体语言在很多文化中都存在，用来表达绝望、尴尬、震惊或惊讶之情。

 

The word "facepalm" may have originated as recently as 2008, and has been popularized based on an image of the character Captain Jean-Luc Picard performing the gesture in the Star Trek³: The Next Generation. Images of stockbrokers⁴ facepalming have also been widely used in the media to convey the dismay associated with poor financial performance, and a wide variety of regrettable film, business, and political decisions have been described as facepalms or "facepalm moments".

 

Facepalm一词的诞生应该是在2008年，由于电影《星舰迷航：下一代》中尚路克•毕凯舰长的捂脸动作而广为人所知。股票经纪人捂脸的姿态也广泛地被媒体用来表现他们在金融颓势面前的沮丧情绪。我们也会用facepalm或facepalm moments（捂脸时刻）来形容许多遭遇败绩的电影、企业和政治决策。

 

This gesture is not unique to humans. A group of mandrills at the Colchester Zoo has adopted a similar gesture to signal the desire to avoid social interaction or to be left alone.

 

这种捂脸姿势并不是人类所独有的。科尔切斯特动物园的一群山魈（猴科）也用相似的动作来表达逃避社交或独处的欲望。

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