1917就有OMG了？9个词看似新实则老

 　　Here are nine words that you might think are recent additions to the language, but have actually been spoken and written.

　　如下九个词也许你会以为是英语语言的新词，其实很早就开始有人说有人写了。

　　1. X factor （1930）

　　未知因素（1930）

　　The TV show didn’t invent the phrase, of course, but what you might not expect is how long people have been talking about the X factor （‘an indefinable but important element’）. It’s found as far back as 1930, appearing in the New York Times.

　　电视节目并没有发明这个词，但你也许想不到人们谈论X factor （“无法定义却重要的元素”）已有多久。最早是在1930年，出现在《纽约时报》上。

　　2. Celebrity¹ （1849）

　　名人（1849）

　　The word celebrity was actually around several centuries ago, meaning a ceremony, or the observance of a ceremony – but in its most common current sense （a famous or talked-about person） it’s still not very new: people have been called celebrities² since the mid-19th century.

　　“名人”这个词几百年前就有了，意为“仪式”或“观摩仪式”，但现在最常用的这层意思（“出名“或”引发议论的人”）亦相当久远，自19世纪中期就有名人一说。

　　3. Wassup （1902）

　　近来如何？（1902）

　　Made famous by a Budweiser commercial in the late 90s and early 2000s, wassup （or whassup） as a colloquial³ pronunciation of what’s up has written evidence from around a century earlier, in a 1902 novel by Arthur Morrison.

　　上世纪90年代末和21世纪初因百威啤酒的广告而走红，有关wassup（也拼作whassup）是what’s up（你好吗）的口语发音，一百多年前 ，1902年阿瑟·莫里森的小说里就有书面记载。

　　4. Holla （1523）

　　喂喂（1523）

　　Holla, as an interjection, is popular in some circles today – but you’d also have been understood back in the 16th century, where holla was used as an exclamation⁴ meaning ‘stop’ or, as seen in Love’s Labour’s Lost, a shout to excite attention.

　　“喂喂”作为感叹，在现在有些圈子里很流行，但你也应知道，早在16世纪，holla（叫“喂”，大声说）就用作感叹，意为“停下”，在《爱的徒劳》中也作为喊叫，意在吸引注意力。

　　5. OMG （1917）

　　我的天（1917）

　　Standing⁵ for , and used to express astonishment⁶, this initialism predates textspeak by many decades. It is first found, indeed, in a letter to Prime Minister Winston Churchill from 1917.

　　代表“Oh my God（我的上帝啊）”，用来表达震惊，这三个字母缩写要比短信用语早好几十年。说真的，最初发现是1917年写给丘吉尔首相的一封信中。

　　6. Xmas （1551）

　　（圣诞）（1551）

　　The earliest use of this abbreviation for Christmas should stem any concerns about falling standards of English : it dates back as far as the mid-16th century. The X represents the first letter （‘chi’） of the Greek Khristos, ‘Christ’.

　　可以打消掉英语标准在降低的顾虑了，最初使用这一缩写来简化Christmas要追溯到16世纪中叶。X代表希腊语Khristos第一个字母（‘chi’），即‘Christ’（基督）。

　　7. Spork （1909）

　　餐叉（1909）

　　A handy tool, particularly if packing lightly for a picnic, the spork isn’t a latter-day invention. Indeed, the term dates back over a century, as far as 1909.

　　方便实用的工具，尤其对于野餐想轻装出行时更是如此。餐叉不是什么现代发明。事实上，这一术语可以追溯到一百年前早在1909年的时候。

　　8. Hairdryer （1895）

　　电吹风（1895）

　　The process of getting ready in the morning is no 21st-century invention. You might be surprised to learn that the term hair-dryer was first used as early as 1895, according to current research, with hair straightener following three years later.

　　早晨准备就绪不是什么21世纪的发明。你定会惊讶，hair-dryer（电吹风）这个词最初在1895年就有人使用了，据最新研究称，三年后有了hair straightener（直发器）一词。

　　9. Bezzie （1865）

　　闺蜜好友（1865）

　　If you call your best friend your bezzie mate, don’t worry that you’re using modern slang: the earliest bezzie has been found is right back in 1865.

　　如果你称你最好的朋友bezzie mate（闺蜜），不用担心你在用现代俚语，早在1865年就有人这么用了。

1 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

2 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

3 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

4 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。