男生女生?加菲貓性別引發編輯大戰

There are plenty of things you can feel positive knowing about Garfield - the cat who loves lasagna, hates Mondays and adores a teddy bear named Pooky.

在加菲貓身上我們能看到很多優秀的品質：喜歡吃千層麪，討厭週一和喜歡一隻名叫布奇的泰迪熊。

But last week, without warning, there rose a strange and sudden debate around a question about the famous feline that even creator Jim Davis needed to weigh in on: Is Garfield a boy, a girl, or no gender at all?

但在上週，突然毫無徵兆地展開了一場奇怪的辯論，連創作者吉姆?戴維斯都捲了進來：加菲貓的性別是什麼？還是根本沒有性別？

The argument appears to have begun when writer Virgil Texas came across a 2014 Mental Floss interview with Davis where he described his tabby creation as 'not really male or female or any particular race or nationality, young or old.'

這個爭論似乎在2014年《心理牙線》雜誌作家維吉爾?德克薩斯採訪戴維斯時就被提出，戴維斯形容加菲貓爲“非男非女、不屬於任何特定的種族或民族、沒有年齡。”

In response to the quote, Virgil wrote on Twitter: 'FACT: Garfield has no gender. This. Is. Canon.'

維吉爾在推特上回應戴維斯的話說：“事實上：加菲貓沒有性別。這是真正的標準。”

So sure was he of Garfield's true gender status that Virgil even took it upon himself to update the Garfield character Wikipedia page with the information.

維吉爾非常肯定加菲貓的真實性別狀態，他甚至把這個信息更新到加菲貓維基百科頁面上。

But it was quickly clear that not everyone agreed with Virgil's hasty edits, and thus began a war over the Wikipedia entry edits.

但不是每個人都同意維吉爾的草率編輯，這引發了一場對維基百科條目編輯的爭論。

The Washington Post reported that the battle took place over 60 hours and eventually ended when Wikipedia shut things down by locking the page.

據《華盛頓郵報》報道稱，爭論超過60個小時，以維基百科鎖定頁面爲結局。

One editor cited multiple moments when Garfield is referred to as 'he' or 'him' or even 'good boy' by other characters in the comic strip.

一位編輯表示，加菲貓被漫畫中的其他角色多次稱爲“他”，甚至是“好男孩”。

Another user wrote: 'Garfield is male. Any other view is Fringe.'

另一位用戶寫道：'加菲貓是男性。任何其他觀點都是不正確的。”

Others rooting for the genderless option added that it shouldn't matter at all whether Garfield is male or female and the gender classification from the Wikipedia entry should be removed entirely.

支持無性別的網友則說，加菲貓是男是女根本不重要。維基百科上加菲貓的性別分類應被刪除。

The war became so overblown that even Capitol Hill appeared to jump in the fray, with Twitter boy chronicling Wikipedia entries made from US Congress IP addresses reporting that someone in the House of Representatives did some editing of their own.

爭論變得如此誇張，美國國會山都加入爭論。使用美國國會IP地址記載維基百科詞條的男孩發推特表示，在衆議院有人選擇自己編輯。

As for Virgil, he warded off plenty of naysayers over his theory before writing: 'If one could locate another source where Jim Davis states, as explicitly as he states in the Mental Floss article, that Garfield's gender is male or female, then this would give rise to a serious controversy in Garfield canon. Yet no such source has been identified, and I highly doubt one will ever emerge.'

至於維吉爾，他避開了很多反對其理論的聲音，寫道：“吉姆?戴維斯在《心理牙線》的採訪中明確提到了加菲貓的性別。如果他在別處有不一樣的說法，那確實會引發嚴肅的爭論。然而，沒有出現任何他的其他說法，我也不認爲有出現的可能。”

It was a statement that soon appeared to have been made in haste as Jim Davis indeed soon joined the debate, shutting everything down in one line to Washington Post: 'Garfield is male.'

這個聲明很快就被證明非常草率，因爲吉姆?戴維斯確實很快加入了辯論，他用一句話終結了討論，告訴《華盛頓郵報》：“加菲貓是男性。”

The 71-year-old cartoonist also pointed out that Garfield has a girlfriend, Arlene, and claimed that his 2014 quotes had been 'taken out of context.'

71歲的戴維斯表示，加菲貓有一個女朋友叫阿琳。並稱在2014年的採訪中，他的言論被“斷章取義”。

'I’ve always said that I wanted to work with animals because they're not perceived as being any particular gender, race, age or ethnicity,' he said. 'In that sense, the humor could be enjoyed by a broader demographic.'

他說：“我一直說我想和動物一起工作，因爲它們不被認爲是特定的性別、人種、年齡或種族。這樣可以爲更多的人帶來幽默。”

The news was enough for Virgil to admit defeat in the argument, later taking to Twitter once again to say: 'Friends, we should not view the Garfield gender ruling as a loss. We should view it as a victory for what matters most: Canon.'

這一消息讓維吉爾在辯論中認輸，此後他又一次發推特說道：'朋友們，我們不應該把這次加菲貓的性別爭論當作一次失敗。我們還是勝利的，因爲我們認識到，‘標準’是最重要的。”