Pluto the ex-planet gave us the Word of the Year
本文作者： AGENCIES
冥王星去年被“踢”出行星行列可谓天文学史上的一大事件。不过有失亦有得，冥王星的戏剧性命运又为它在语言学史上赢得了一席之地，在美国方言协会近日发起的英语“年度热词”评选中，“Plutoed”一词拔得头筹。 PLUTO may no longer be a planet, but it has a new claim to fame: "Plutoed" has been chosen 2006 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society (ADS). The 117-year-old society selected the word at their annual conference in Anaheim, California, last week. "Plutoed" won in a run-off against "climate canary", which is defined as "an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon." The ADS said that to pluto is to demote or devalue someone or something. That's what happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet. Actually，Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as "vocabulary item" not just a word but a phrase. The words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year. "Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name," said ADS's president, Cleveland Evans. "We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet." The ADS has been choosing Words of the Year since 1990. The society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America. It includes linguists, grammarians, writers, and others. Other words in the running for Word of the Year prohibited liquids: fluids that cannot be transported by passengers on airplanes macaca: an American citizen treated as an alien YouTube: a popular web site that lets users upload, view, and share video clips flog: a blog created by a corporation to promote a product or a television show surge: a large, but brief, increase in troop strength murse: man's purse |  |
| |||||||||||||||||||||
京公网安备 11010502033664号