Badass在美语中是一个非常流行的口语单词，你经常可以听到人们用badass来形容不同的人、或者物，比如：I heard this guy’s a real badass, so you better stay away from him。又比如：Maggie Q plays a badass character in the hit TV show Nikita。还有，That’s a badass sports car you got over there。由于构成badass的词bad和ass似乎并非褒义，使得badass看起来更具负面意义。那么badass是否真如它看起来那样，是个贬义词呢？
我们来看看权威怎么说。在，对于badass的名词含义有两种截然不同的解释：首先看负面的，A mean or belligerent person; a person with unpleasantly extreme attitudes, behavior or appearance（刻薄、好斗者；具有使人反感的极端态度、行为、或外表者）；再看正面的，A person considered impressive due to extreme attitudes, behavior or appearance（某人因特立独行或外表出众，而令人印象深刻）。
综合上面的英文解释，其实答案已经比较明了。Badass既可表达贬义，亦可用于褒义，取决于所处的语境。你可以尝试把它翻译为：牛逼的、强悍（凶悍）的、厉害的、拉风的、狂拽酷炫的，或是狠角色。不过总体而言，在今天的语言环境下，尤其是在美国，badass所具备的褒扬、赞美含义要更多一点。它不仅可作名词，还可作形容词，用来修饰令人惊艳的事物（如前面例子里的：badass sports car）。在亚马逊，你随便就可以搜出一打含有badass关键字的畅销书，比如：《You Are a Badass》、《The Badass Life》、《The Badass Body Diet》等等。
我想，下面这篇来自Wikihow，名为How to Become a Badass文章的精彩开头，颇能概括如今人们对badass角色的喜爱之情吧（大家可以阅读体会一下，相当有画面感）：
“You know the guy — he parks his motorcycle and walks fearlessly into the bar, clad in black leather. He opens his jacket, revealing tattooed sleeves. He puts a bill on the table, which the barkeep accepts, putting a shot in front of him. You catch a glimpse of the man’s a devil-may-care look in his eye before you quickly look away. You’ve just seen a badass, and you like the idea of becoming one yourself.”
