NewwordscoinedafterSeptember11
Time magazine has named its man of the year (ex-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani), the United States has its villain of the new century (Osama bin Laden) and now the American Dialect Society is getting ready to vote on its word or phrase of the year.
And while cuddle puddle (a pile of ecstasy users on the floor) is in the running, the smart money is backing phrases like "Ground Zero," "Let's Roll," "9/11," "September 11," "Evil Doers," "Terrible Tuesday" and "ost-September 11" as likely winners when voting takes place on January 4 in a San Francisco hotel at the language group's annual meeting.
While previous years have celebrated such phrases as "millennium bug," "Y2K," "e-commerce" and "chads", the language mavens studying 2001 are as consumed with the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
The Dialect Society's Website has nominated more than 20 words and phrases, including some that appeared in print maybe once or twice like "Osamaniac" (a woman sexually attracted to Osama bin Laden).
Besides "Ground Zero," the top 10 words on the list include President George Bush's middle initial "W" in second place with the advisory "The butt of January's political jokes waxes most presidential in September."
In third place is "Jihad," the Arabic word for "struggle" but which is used today as "Holy War."
"God" is in fourth place with its variations of "Allah" and "Yahweh" with the note that in one form or another the "name has been in more headlines and on the lips of more politicians than any time in recent memory."
"Anthrax" is fifth on the list, followed by "Euro," Europe's new currency, and "Wizard" thanks to the Harry Potter craze.
In eighth place, the long-ignored suffix "stan" makes a comeback as in Pakistan, Afghanistan and thanks to a recent New Yorker cover, a mythical place called "New Yorkistan" which boasts such areas as "Irant and Irate," "Taxistan" and "Fuhgeddabuditstan."
In 9th place is a tribute to talk show host Oprah Winfrey "Oprahization," a term denoting whether something would play on her show or not. And in 10th place is "foot-and-mouth" referring to the disease.
This Website also ranks the colors of the year and not surprisingly in the groundswell of patriotic fervor that followed September 11 the three top colors of 2001 are red, white and blue.
(Agencies)
《时代》杂志评选出了2001年美国风云人物--前纽约市长朱利安尼,美国锁定了新世纪的头号敌人--奥萨马·本·拉登,如今美国方言协会也不甘寂寞,正准备进行2001年度美国流行词语的评选。
1月4日在美国旧金山一家酒店中举行的语言协会年会上,2001年的新词"cuddle puddle (成群的吸毒者)"虽然入选10大流行词汇的可能性很大,但是更多的人还是支持"Ground Zero(指世贸中心废墟)", "Let's Roll("我们开始行动吧!"9·11事件中,美联航93次航班上的乘客和机组人员喊出了这句话。为了不让飞机成为恐怖袭击的武器,他们与劫机者进行了殊死搏斗,最终飞机坠毁在宾夕法尼亚州彼兹堡郊外)", "9·11", "September 11", "Evil Doers(恐怖分子)", "Terrible Tuesday(黑色星期二,指2001年9月11日美国遭恐怖袭击的当天)" 和 "ost-September 11(后9·11时代)"等这些和9·11恐怖事件有关的词汇。
2000年的流行词语包括"millennium bug(电脑千年虫病毒)", "Y2K(公元2000年,千年虫)", "e-commerce(电子商务)" 和 "chads(孔屑,指2000年美国总统大选计票混乱,选票上的孔没打好)",但据语言专家研究,2001年的流行词汇大多源于9月11日发生的世贸大楼和五角大楼的恐怖袭击事件。
美国方言协会在其自己的网页上登出了20个候选词语和词组,其中包括仅在刊物中出现过一两次的词语,比如"Osamaniac(疯狂爱慕本· 拉登的女性)"。
在被提名的10个最流行的词语中,"Ground Zero" 排在首位,其次是美国总统乔治·布什(George W. Bush)中间名字的第一个字母"W"。美国总统布什在2001年1月就职后,闹出了不少政治笑话,但9·11事件后,布什成了美国有史以来支持率最高的总统(《今日美国》、美国有线新闻网和盖洛普公司在9·11事件发生后联合进行了一次民意测验,结果显示,美国总统布什获得了90%的民众支持率,成为有史以来盖洛普民意测验支持率最高的总统),布什总统名字中间的 "W" 成为人们常常提到的单词。。
排在第三位的流行词语是"Jihad",这个词语在阿拉伯语中是"奋斗、斗争"的意思,现在这个词的意义已经成为我们常见的"Holy War(圣战)"了。
排在第四位的流行词语是"God"和它的两个变体"Allah(阿拉,真主)" 和"Yahweh(耶和华)"。这个词语之所以当选,是因为近一段时间这个词"经常出现在新闻标题中,越来越多的政客也常常把它挂在嘴边"。
"Anthrax(炭疽)"排在第五位,接下来是"Euro(欧元)"--欧元区国家统一的流通货币,此外,受2001年风靡全球的畅销书《哈里·波特》影响, "Wizard(巫师)"也榜上有名,成为2001年候选流行词语。
排在第八位的流行词语其实是一个久已为人们所忽略的后缀 "-stan",例如Pakistan, Afghanistan等。最绝的要数最近的一期《纽约人》杂志封面杜撰的"New Yorkistan"的地图,这张地图分别由"Irant and Irate", "Taxistan" and "Fuhgeddabuditstan"等地方组成。
["Irant and Irate", "Taxistan" and "Fuhgeddabuditstan"都是纽约人最常用的口语,Irant 是I complain a lot(烦死我了)的意思,Irate是I am angry(气死我了),Taxistan是taxi-stan(taxi是叫出租车时的用语),Fuhgeddabuditstan是forget about it(口语中"没关系""别放在心上")的意思]。
排在第九位的词语是"Oprahization",指某个节目单元能否在美国著名脱口秀主持人Oprah Winfrey的节目中播出。最后,排在第十位的流行词语是"foot-and-mouth(口蹄疫)"。
该网站还评选出了2001年的流行色,受9·11事件影响,"爱国色"--红、白、蓝理所当然的排在了前三名。
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