英语单词大师：Remembering 2008 in a Word

AA: I'm Avi Arditti, and this week on WORDMASTER: we check in with Grant Barrett at the American Dialect Society for the results of its 19th annual vote for words of the year, in this case for 2008.

GRANT BARRETT: "The Word of the Year was bailout -- b-a-i-l-o-u-t. Bailout. And I should say that it doesn't have to be a new word. It has to be newly prominent. And certainly the usage of this term has spiked¹ since the federal government has been called in to rescue banks and automobile² manufacturers and a variety of companies with a bailout. Because that's what a bailout is, it's a form of rescue.

"It beat in a runoff -- that is, we have one round of voting with all the candidates -- bailout beat 'Barack Obama.' Now that's a name, but we were judging it as what we call a combining form. That is, Barack and Obama as separate words have been used to coin oodles and gobs and just loads of other words. It's a very productive combining form, as we would say in linguistics³."AA: "So, for example."GRANT BARRETT: "Oh, like Obamamania, just to describe the way that some people are crazy about the man. Obamination, used by people who aren't crazy about the man as a play on the word abomination, a-b-o-m-i-n-a-t-i-o-n, which is something negative."AA: "Right. So you've got the Obamanation, would be a good thing, right, to supporters."GRANT BARRETT: "That's right."AA: "And Obamination would be -- "GRANT BARRETT: "They sound, in the mouths of Americans, they sound almost exactly alike. You have to carefully articulate yourself and say it very slowly in order for the difference to be heard. But most people, you can't tell the difference except if you're reading it in print." AA: But the name of the next president, who will take office on Tuesday, was the winner in the category of Most Useful.

GRANT BARRETT: "Well, I don't know how it couldn't be the winner there, given there were so many words coined off of his name that Slate⁵ magazine made a book out of them, a little dictionary. And I fully⁴ except the next four years to be Obamalicious as people keep coining more and more words off of his name.

"You know, the thing about Obama, the last name in particular, is that it's vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. It's really easy to say and it lends itself to form blends. That is where you take two words and you mix them together. Particularly if their syllable⁶, like the last syllable of Obama, is the same as the first syllable of another word, it's very easy to blend them."AA: "I've got to ask you, one more category here -- the Most Creative. The term was, I see it's -- I'm not even sure how to [pronounce it] -- 'recombobulation area.'"GRANT BARRETT: "Oh, isn't it delightful⁷? But you immediately understood what it means, right?"AA: "Well, once I read the definition. Tell me, what is a recombobulation area?"GRANT BARRETT: "Well, I guess we should explain, because I know it's not quite like this all around the world, but in American airports there's a big security procedure before you can even get anywhere near an airplane. It even involves taking off your shoes, sometimes taking off your belt, having your suitcase X-rayed. Maybe even they'll pass a handheld metal detector⁸ over your body. It's very serious -- "AA: "This has mostly been, or largely, since the attacks in two thousand one."GRANT BARRETT: "That's right, mostly in the last seven to eight years. And so when you finish passing through that process, usually your coat is off, your shoes are off, maybe your belt in is in your hand, you're looking for your cell phone. All this stuff is coming through the X-ray machine bit by bit in plastic tubs where you've placed it.

"So you're trying to put your phone back in your pocket and your belt back on your pants and your shoes back on your feet and your coat back on your shoulders. And you're trying to pull your bags at the same time. And maybe even you've got a child who you're trying to help or somebody else. You're discombobulated, and discombobulated is a fancy word saying that you're disorganized and out of sorts and you don't have your act together.

"And so somebody at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, decided⁹ that they needed just a little bit of humor. So above the chairs that they've placed there where you can kind of get yourself back in order, they've put a big sign that says 'Recombulation Area.' And it's a word that didn't really exist before they used it. And every time people see that, they grin a little bit. It eases you, it makes you feel just a little better. It actually works remarkably¹⁰ well, because it's a place where you don't expect a joke. I'd love to see recombobulation area become the standard term for this at airports across the country."AA: Grant Barrett is vice¹¹ president of the American Dialect Society and co-host of the public radio show "A Way With Words." And that's WORDMASTER for this week. We'll post a link to all the winning words at our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. I'm Avi Arditti.

1 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

2 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

3 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

6 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

7 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

8 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。