牛津詞典2017年度詞語：“青年震蕩”
韋氏詞典(Merriam-Webster)選出的年度詞語是“女性主義”(feminism);Dictionary.com網(wǎng)站選的是“同謀”(complicit);而劍橋詞典(Cambridge Dictionary)選的是“民粹主義”(populism)。
Now, Oxford Dictionaries is announcing that its international Word of the Year for 2017 is … “youthquake”?
現(xiàn)在，牛津詞典(Oxford Dictionaries)宣布它的2017年國際年度詞語是……“青年震蕩”(youthquake)?
“Youthquake” — defined as a “significant cultural, political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people” — triumphed over a politically pointed shortlist that included “Antifa,” “broflake,” “kompromat,” “fragility” and “Milkshake Duck.” Katherine Connor Martin, the head of Oxford’s new words program, acknowledged that it was an unusual choice.
“青年震蕩”——它的定義是“因年輕人的行動或影響而引發(fā)的重大文化、政治或社會變革”——擊敗了從政治角度選出的候選名單上的其他詞語，包括“反法西斯”(Antifa)、“broflake”(玻璃心男子)、“黑材料”(kompromat)、“脆弱”(fragility)和“奶昔鴨”(Milkshake Duck)。牛津詞典新詞匯項目的負(fù)責(zé)人凱瑟琳·康納·馬丁(Katherine Connor Martin)承認(rèn)，這是一個不同尋常的選擇。
The former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland apparently coined “youthquake” in the 1960s, to describe the youth culture of Swinging London, and it maintained a modest if somewhat retro currency in conversations about style. But in the past year its frequency increased by about 400 percent, according to analysis of the Oxford English Corpus, which collects roughly 150 million words of spoken and written English from various sources each month.
前《Vogue》主編戴安娜·弗里蘭(Diana Vreeland)似乎是在20世紀(jì)60年代創(chuàng)造了“youthquake”一詞，用以描述“搖擺倫敦”運(yùn)動(Swinging London)中的青年文化，這個詞偶見于時尚談話中。但是，根據(jù)牛津英語語料庫(Oxford English Corpus)的分析，在過去的一年里，它的使用頻率增加了約400%。該語料庫每個月收集約1.5億個英語口語和書面詞語。
It surged first in coverage of the British parliamentary elections in June, when a spike in voting by young people helped deal a blow to the Conservative Party, before spreading to political commentary in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and elsewhere.
在6月份關(guān)于英國議會選舉的報道中，它的使用量首次飆升，當(dāng)時年輕投票者數(shù)量的激增打擊了保守黨，而后擴(kuò)展到新西蘭、澳大利亞和美國等地的政治評論中。
“It has a very neat symmetry,” Ms. Martin said. “It originally referred to changes in fashion caused by baby boomers coming of age. Now, we’re seeing it emerge in an electoral politics context, as millennials displace the baby boomers.”
“它很對稱，”馬丁說。“它最初指的是嬰兒潮時代出生的人成年后給時尚帶來的變化。現(xiàn)在，它出現(xiàn)在選舉政治語境中，因為千禧一代取代了嬰兒潮一代。”
Some dictionary companies’ choices are based on frequency of look-ups. Oxford’s Word of the Year, Ms. Martin said, reflects not just social and political issues, but is also intended to highlight the ways language changes over time. (Its choice last year was “post-truth.”)
有些詞典的年度之選是基于查詞頻率。馬丁表示，牛津詞典的年度詞語不僅反映了社會和政治議題，而且意在強(qiáng)調(diào)語言隨著時間流逝而變化的方式(該詞典去年選擇的是“后真相”[post-truth])。
Some words on this year’s shortlist, like “kompromat” and “Antifa,” are foreign loan words that suddenly became part of common English vocabulary, thanks to current events. Others are coinages that reflect intersecting, long-developing language trends.
今年短名單上的一些詞，如“黑材料”和“反法西斯”，都是外來詞，由于時事的緣故，突然成了普通英語詞匯的一部分。還有一些是新造詞，它們反映了互相交叉、長期發(fā)展的語言趨勢。
Take “broflake,” a derogatory term for a conservative man who is easily offended by progressive attitudes (even as he mocks progressives as overly sensitive “snowflakes”). It reflects the tendency, especially in online discourse, to reappropriate insults in highly ironic, self-referential ways.
以“玻璃心男子”為例，它是一個貶義詞，指的是那些很容易被進(jìn)步觀點(diǎn)冒犯的保守人士(他們嘲笑進(jìn)步人士是過于敏感的“雪花”[snowflakes])。它反映了一種傾向，那就是，以高度諷刺、自我參照的方式借用他人對自己的侮辱進(jìn)行反擊，尤其是在網(wǎng)絡(luò)對話中。
It also reflects the way portmanteau coinages incorporating “bro-” and “man-” — “portmanbros,” if you will — have increasingly taken on a critical edge, in keeping with shifts in conversations around gender.
它也反映出將“bro-”(兄弟)和“man-”(男子)結(jié)合起來的合并新造詞(你可以稱它們?yōu)閜ortmanbros[由bro構(gòu)成的合成詞])越來越呈現(xiàn)出一種關(guān)鍵優(yōu)勢，因應(yīng)了圍繞性別議題的談話變化。
“How we get from relatively genial terms like ‘bromance’ or ‘man cave’ to more critical terms like ‘broflake’ or ‘manspreading’ is interesting,” Ms. Martin said. “It speaks to the way people are increasingly interested in questioning what they see as male privilege.”
“我們是如何從‘bromance’(兄弟情)或‘man cave’(男人窩)等相對溫和的表達(dá)，轉(zhuǎn)向‘broflake’或‘manspreading’(男性岔腿而坐)等含有更多批評意味的詞語的——這個現(xiàn)象很有趣，”馬丁說。“它表明，人們越來越有興趣質(zhì)疑他們眼中的男性特權(quán)。”
Dictionaries are supposed to provide objective information about how words are used, Ms. Martin emphasized, not to weigh in on contemporary issues. But Oxford, in its announcement, did allow that “youthquake” is the rare emerging political term that sounds a “hopeful note.”
馬丁強(qiáng)調(diào)，詞典應(yīng)該提供關(guān)于詞語使用方式的客觀信息，而不是在當(dāng)代問題上發(fā)表意見。不過，牛津詞典在聲明中承認(rèn)，“青年震蕩”是一個罕見的新興政治詞語，它聽起來像一個“充滿希望的音符”。
Of course, the fact that the dreaded millennials are taking over the language may not seem like good news to everyone. Ms. Martin, for the record, identified herself as a “Xennial,” as members of the micro-generation just behind Gen X are sometimes known.
當(dāng)然，并不是每個人都認(rèn)為，令人畏懼的千禧一代正在接管語言是個好消息。馬丁鄭重聲明自己是“Xennial”一代，也就是在有時被稱為“X一代”(Gen X)之后的數(shù)量不多的一代人。
“We considered ‘Xennial’ for the shortlist,” she said, “but it didn’t make the cut.”
“我們考慮過將‘Xennial’加入短名單，”她說，“但它沒有過關(guān)。”
