而在该词典的 2023 年数据中,除了年度词汇“Authentic(真实的)”之外,其他词语也很突出,包括:
1. Rizz
Rizz 是网络俚语的一个范例,今年 9 月被收录进词典后,一跃成为热门查询词。
As a noun, rizz means “romantic appeal or charm” ; as a verb (typically used with up, as in “rizz up that cutie”) it means “to charm or seduce.”
作为名词,rizz 的意思是“吸引异性(同性)的魅力”,类似于汉语中的“性张力”;作为动词(通常与up连用,如“rizz up that cutie”),意为“吸引、迷住”。
2. Deepfake
The quest for authenticity partly results from technologies like the deepfake: “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.”
“深度伪造(Deepfake)”是一种技术——巧妙篡改、操纵一份图像或录像,从而误导别人,让他们以为某人做过或说过(实际上并没有做或说)某些事情。也可以说,人们今年对“真实性”的执着追求离不开这门技术的影响。
4 月底和 5 月初,埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)的律师在一次辩论中称,马斯克作为一个名人,他的一些公开言论可能是深度伪造的,因此他不应该为自己的公开言论提供法律证词 (这一论点被法官驳回)。从那以后,人们对“deepfake”一词的兴趣激增。
Another spike for deepfake followed in May, when a fan-made ad for Tesla featured a likeness of Ryan Reynolds, and again in June, when online ads for Ron DeSantis used apparently fake images of Donald Trump.
今年 5 月,特斯拉粉丝自制的品牌广告中,竟然有知名演员瑞安·雷诺兹(Ryan Reynolds)*的出镜,这引起了“deepfake”的又一次讨论高峰;6 月,美国弗罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis) 的网上广告中,也出现了明显假冒的特朗普片段。
译注:瑞安·雷诺兹(Ryan Reynolds),加拿大演员。代表作有《金刚狼》《死侍》等。
3. Coronation
今年 5 月,英国新任国王查尔斯三世的加冕仪式引发了“Coronation”一词的热度飙升。
Coronation refers to the literal act of placing a crown on a monarch’s head, a synonym of crowning. It is also more figuratively used to refer to the assumption of a prominent position or office.”
coronation(加冕)指的是将王冠正式戴在新君主头上的仪式,是crown(加冕)的同义词。它也更形象地用于指担任重要职位或职位。
coronation和许多与贵族和皇室有关的词一样,都来自法语,包括noble(贵族)、royal(皇室)、monarch(君主)和ceremony(典礼)。使用这些法语单词是因为,英国贵族最初是在 1066 年征服者威廉胜利后的诺曼(即法国)贵族。这个词 14 世纪就进入英语了。
4. Dystopian
Dystopian gets applied not only to frightening real-world issues, but also to entertaining fictional ones. Video games, books and movies depict a dark potential future that typifies the imagined world or society that dystopian so often calls to mind.
Dystopian(反乌托邦)一词,不仅适用于可怕的现实问题,也适用于有趣的虚构问题。电子游戏、书籍和电影常常会描绘一种黑暗渺茫的未来,而这正是“反乌托邦”一词所代表的世界或社会。
今年,许多事件激发了人们对“反乌托邦”一词的兴趣。4 月初,美国共和党制作了一段视频,完全使用人工智能生成图像,描绘了人们口中“反乌托邦的未来”的情景,并断言拜登连任将导致这种情况。6 月,加拿大野火产生的浓烟笼罩了美国东部,形成了一幅 “乌托邦”般的黑暗景观。这一年充满了乌托邦式的警告:人工智能可能最终取代或征服人类。
5. EGOT
欧美艺人能获得的最罕见的殊荣之一是赢得四个特别奖:Emmy(艾美奖)、Grammy(格莱美奖)、Oscar(奥斯卡奖)和Tony(托尼奖)。这一成就被称为 "EGOT",由每个奖项的首字母组成。EGOT 于 1984 年首次使用,并于 2019 年被收入词典。
EGOT is pronounced as a word as /EE-gaht/ . We heard Viola Davis pronounce it when she used EGOT as a verb in her acceptance speech at the Grammys, exclaiming “I just EGOT!”
EGOT 作为一个单词发音为/EE-gaht/。演员维奥拉·戴维斯(Viola Davis)在格莱美颁奖典礼上发表获奖感言时,将 EGOT 用作动词,大声喊道:“我 EGOT 了!”
6. X
马斯克将自己旗下的社交媒体——Twitter 改名为“X”,很多人因此去查字典,想更加了解这个不可思议的字母。7 月 23 日,即更名公告发布之日,“X”的搜索量飙升了 885%,尽管此后该平台的股价大跌。
It doesn’t just represent a letter and its sound, but also has various meanings and functions: for example, it stands for “an unknown quantity,” it’s a symbol for the act of multiplication, and it is used as a substitute for “by” in measurements, as in “The room was 10’x15’.”
它不仅代表一个字母及其发音,还具有各种含义和功能:例如,它可以代表“未知量”;也可以是乘号,在测量中用作“by”的替代品,如“10'x15的房间”。
Other letters carry meaning by themselves, (think of F for “failure” or to a T meaning “perfection”), but X has a mystique all its own. Linguist Marcel Danesi was quoted as commenting that X “reverberates with all kinds of meanings that are intuitive, unconscious, and archetypal.”
其他字母本身也有含义,比如F代表“失败”,T因其视觉的美感代表“完美”,但X本身就有一种神秘感。有人引用语言学家马塞尔·达内西(Marcel Danesi)的评论:“X本身具有一种神秘的意义,这种意义是直觉的、无意识的和原始的。”
7. Implode
今年 6 月,一艘试图搜寻泰坦尼克号残骸的潜水器——“泰坦号”失踪,搜寻工作成为国际头条。真相最终水落石出:“泰坦号”已经内爆(Implode)。
While explode is a common word, implode is encountered less frequently; people turned to the dictionary to understand it. Something that implodes bursts inward or undergoes violent compression — in this case, from the immense water pressure two miles below the ocean’s surface. The noun implosion also saw a dramatic increase in lookups.
人们在表达“爆炸”时常用单词 explosion,而 implode(内爆)则不太常见,所以人们都去查字典:内爆的东西会向内爆裂或发生剧烈压缩,泰坦号内爆是由于海面下两英里处的巨大水压造成的。名词 implosion 的查询量也急剧增加。
8. Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger can refer to a living person that closely resembles another living person—that is, a double; or it can refer to the opposite side of one’s personality. In German folklore a Doppelgänger is a ghostly counterpart of a living person. The word is formed from two words that together mean “double goer.”
Doppelgänger 可以指与另一个活人非常相似的活人,即替身;也可以指一个人人格的另一面。在德国民间传说中,Doppelgänger是活人的鬼魂对应物。这个词由两个词组成,合起来的意思是 "二重身"。
Doppelgänger 这个词引起关注是因为,媒体报道了两起谋杀案,一起在德国,一起在纽约,但是两名凶手非常相似。还有一篇报道称,两名棒球运动员有着相同的职业、名字和相似的身体特征(身高、肤色、眼睛),但 DNA 测试显示他们没有血缘关系。
9. Indict
今年,"Indict"这个词频频出现在新闻中。美国前总统特朗普在四起案件中被起诉(indict),目前正在通过法律体系进行审理。3 月 30 日,即纽约市大陪审团指控前总统卷入封口费案当天,indict 这个词的搜索量飙升了 9440%。
Indict is defined as “to charge with a crime by the finding or presentment of a jury (such as a grand jury) in due form of law.” Like most words in our legal vocabulary, indict comes from French (others include judge, jury, arraign, appeal, and acquit).
indict的定义是 "通过陪审团(如大陪审团)的裁定或陈述,以适当的法律形式指控犯罪"。与英语法律词汇中的大多数单词一样,"indict"来自法语(其他单词包括 judge "法官"、jury "陪审团"、arraign appeal "传讯"、appeal "上诉 "和 acquit "无罪释放")。
The silent c in indict is the result of scholars in the Renaissance “correcting” the spelling of the French borrowing by adding the c from its Latin ancestor. Before their tampering, the word was spelled indite.
indict 的发音是/ɪnˈdaɪt/。在文艺复兴前,这个词的拼写是"indite";文艺复兴时期,学者们从拉丁语的词根中添加了字母“c”,来“修正”这个法语借词的拼写,这才有了不发音的字母“c”。
原文链接:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year
https://abc7news.com/authentic-is-the-2023-word-of-the-year-according-to-merriam-webster/14112747/
编译 | 玛迪娜
排版 | 玛迪娜
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