词汇大师-- Words of 2007

　　ADAM PHILLIPS: Welcome to Wordmaster. I'm Adam Phillips sitting in for Avi Arditti and Roseanne Skirble. Today we look at some of the interesting English words that popped up in 2007. My guest today is author, editor and public radio host Grant Barrett.

　　GRANT BARRETT: "And I am a lexicographer¹. That means I am somebody that compiles and edits dictionaries for a living. I specialize in new words and slang. It's the kind of stuff that most people don't know about yet but I'm there early. I hunt it down, I figure out what it means and then I put it into print."
AP: "Let's start with the serious stuff first. The war in Iraq has been foremost in many people's minds and I understand there have been some new words have come out of that. For instance, the word 'surge.'"
GB: "That's right. Surge was a term that came about, I think it was at the end of 2005. And what it meant was that the American government was going to send more troops to Iraq in order to better fight the war there.
"And the troops themselves however it call it the splurge. It's kind of their way of poking² fun at it. By splurge, they mean they are throwing a lot of money and a lot of resources and a lot of technology at a problem.
AP: "What's boom? I understand boom is a word."
GB: "Well, boom specifically, of course, is an instance of an explosion. So let's say an IED -- an improvised³ explosive device -- is a boom. But the way the government looks at it and the Defense⁴ department looks at that [is] you're left of boom.  When you talk about 'left of boom' you talk about all the things you do in order to prevent those explosions or to prepare for them. And when you talk about 'right of boom' you talk about all the things you do after an explosion happens. And that means better hospital care or better methods of tracking down the person who caused the explosions."
AP: "Why 'left' or 'right' for those meanings?"
GB: "Well, if you look at a timeline typically, what is to the left is always older and what is to the right is newer."
AP: "Of course, soldiers are always great at grisly slang. I understand there is a new word - meat tag."
GB: "Yes, meat tag. Soldiers wear dog tags around their necks. These have their identification numbers on them and their names. Now some soldiers, because they are worried about their bodies not being recognized if they should die in an explosion, are getting their information tattooed⁵ on their body. It's put on their skin with ink."
AP: "Elsewhere in the news, there has been a lot of talk about global warming, the environment and all that. I understand there is an interesting phrase that sounds sort of like global warming -- but isn't."
GB: "The phrase is global weirding. And I think that requires a little bit of explanation. By weirding we mean that the changes in temperature and changes in the environment are making animals do strange things. Like they will migrate differently or they will go to countries they never went to before. Others are dying off; others are thriving. We're getting strange storms in parts of the world that have never had that kind of weather before. Generally, it's very unusual patterns. And altogether, you can say it's weird⁶ or odd."
AP: "The bees. They may - or may not - be an example of global weirding right?"
GB: "Yes. This year, one of the terms that came about was colony collapse⁷ disorder⁸. The beekeepers who keep bees in order to pollinate agricultural crops are coming back to the hives and finding them empty. The hives are just dying.  And they are not sure why the bees are dying. It could be mites⁹, which are very tiny little insects that inhabit the beehives. We don't know. Definitely weird."
AP: "Now, money and computers are always a favorite theme. I understand you have a couple of words along that line."
GB: "Yeah. One of the terms I really like this year is e-mail bankruptcy¹⁰. And I should say that this term, unlike the others, isn't necessarily brand-new, but what it is, it came to importance this year. It became really significant."
AP: "What's the 'bankruptcy' element?"
GB: "That comes from banking¹¹. When you are in debt and you can't pay it off you can go to court and say 'I am sorry, I can't do this anymore. I can't pay my debts. I am officially declaring bankruptcy.
"And e-mail bankruptcy is when you have so much e-mail -- that is, so many digital messages -- that you can't handle them, and you give up. And you say to yourself 'I'm not even going to bother with these.' And you either delete them or you file them away and then you send a blanket response, one generic¹² response, to everybody that ever sent you a message and says 'Look. If you didn't get a reply from me, you're never going to get a reply from me. I am declaring e-mail bankruptcy. It's done!'"
AP: "Now, on the other end of the gravity scale, we've got pap."
GB:  "Pap is short for paparazzi. Paparazzi is an Italian word that means photographers of stars and famous people. And they are like gnats¹³. They are like bugs¹⁴. If you're famous, they are constantly hovering¹⁵ around you and taking photographs. And taking photographs like that is now called 'papping.' So there is a new verb, to pap. which is to take a photograph of a famous person."
AP: "Thank you very much, Grant, for talking to us. And I wish you a very great year full of lots of new words and great meanings!"
GB: "And global weirding to you, too!"
AP:  Grant Barrett is the co-host of "A Way with Words," a language-related public radio program and the editor of "The Double-Tongued Dictionary." For WORDMASTER, I'm Adam Phillips.

1 lexicographer   

n.辞典编纂人

参考例句：

• A lexicographer's job is to describe the language.词典编纂者的工作就是对语言加以描述。
• The lexicographer knew that the English lexis was changing. 字典编纂者知道英语词汇在不断变化。

2 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

3 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

9 mites   

n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨

参考例句：

• The only discovered animals are water bears, mites, microscopic rotifers. 能够发现的动物只有海蜘蛛、螨和微小的轮虫。 来自辞典例句
• Mites are frequently found on eggs. 螨会经常出现在蛋上。 来自辞典例句

10 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

11 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

12 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

13 gnats   

n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He decided that he might fire at all gnats. 他决定索性把鸡毛蒜皮都摊出来。 来自辞典例句
• The air seemed to grow thick with fine white gnats. 空气似乎由于许多白色的小虫子而变得浑浊不堪。 来自辞典例句

14 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。