A new year means a chance to leave some of the tired words and phrases of 2009 in the past. At least that's the theory of the wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University, who released their 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

新年意味着摒弃陈词滥调。至少美国密歇根州州立苏必利尔湖大学的“字匠”们是这么认为的。他们发布了第三十五份年度标准英语中被禁用的误用、滥用、无用词语清单。


来看看有哪些词被封杀:

SHOVEL-READY
万事俱备,只欠东风

"Apparently, the generally accepted definition of this phrase is to imply that a project has been completely designed and all that is left to do is to implement it...however, when something dies, it, too, is shovel-ready for burial and so I get confused about the meaning. ”

“显然这个词最为普遍接受的意思,是形容一个策划完毕、等待实施的计划。不过也可以用来形容什么东西死了,等待入殓,所以我被搞糊涂了。”


"I just saw it in tandem with 'cyber-ready' and nearly choked on my coffee. It's starting the '-ready' jargon. Makes me 'vacation-ready.'"

“我看到这个词和cyber-ready放在一起时,当场就喷了。后缀ready的用法开始流行,那我能不能说我已经vacation-ready了?”


TRANSPARENT/TRANSPARENCY
透明/透明化

"In the lexicon of the political arena, this word is supposed to mean obvious or easily understood. In reality, political transparency is more invisible than obvious!"

“政治词典里这个词的解释是:显而易见或明白如话。事实上,政治透明化压根就不透明!”


"I just don't see it."

"哪透了?我没看到。”


沙皇

Long used by the media as a metaphor for positions of high authority, including “baseball czar”

媒体常用这个词来指代位高权重的人,包括“棒球沙皇”。

"We have appointed a czar of such-and-such; clearly that's better than a 'leader,' 'coordinator' or 'director'! "

“我们把形形色色的人都冠以‘沙皇’的称号,显然这比‘领导者’、‘协调者’或‘主任’要好听!”


TWEET
Twitter上的留言

And all of its variations…tweetaholic, retweet, twitterhea(tweet+diarrhea), twitterature, twittersphere…

它有许多变体:推狂,再推,水推,推文学,推空间……


APP
应用软件application的缩写

"Must we b(be) sbjct(subject) to yt(yet) another abrv(abbreviation)? Why does the English language have to fit on a two-inch screen? "
“我们非得忍受又一个缩写词吗?为什么英语就一定要把自己截头去尾地放在两英寸显示屏上?”


SEXTING
信骚扰

"Any dangerous new trend that also happens to have a clever mash-up of words, involves teens, and gets television talk show hosts interested must be banished."

“一切威胁到青少年并引来脱口秀主持人口水的危险风气,包括其催生的混搭式新词,都必须被封杀。”


FRIEND AS A VERB
Friend作为动词:加为好友

"'Befriend' is much more pleasant to the human ear and a perfectly useful word in the dictionary."

“Befriend本身就是动词,听起来也顺耳得多,而且是一个相当有用的词。”


TEACHABLE MOMENT
孺子可教,时机正好

What might otherwise be known as 'a lesson.' "This phrase is used to describe everything from potty-training to politics. It's time to vote it out!"

“从教小孩子上厕所到搞政治,这个词无所不容。该是时候废除它了。”


IN THESE ECONOMIC TIMES…
在当今经济状况下……

"In this economy, we can't afford to be wasteful…In this economy, we all need some security…In this economy, frogs could start falling from the sky...In this economy, blah blah blah... Overused for everything from trying to market products as inexpensive to simply explaining any and all behavior during the recession."

“在这种经济状况下,我们不能浪费……在这种经济状况下,我们都需要安全感……在这种经济状况下,天下可能下青蛙……在这种经济状况下,@#¥%&*……从推销产品到解释所有萧条期的举动,这个词组被一再滥用。”


STIMULUS
刺激

"Everything in the news is about the stimulus packages... can I go down to the local bar and down a few drinks and call it a stimulus package?"

“新闻里反复说的都是经济刺激方案……我能不能去酒吧里喝几口,然后说这就是我的刺激方案?”


TOXIC ASSETS
有毒资产

"Whatever happened to simply 'bad stocks,' 'debts,' or 'loans'?"

“那些简单的诸如‘烂股’‘债务’‘贷款’之类的词都哪去了?”


"What a wretched term!"

“多脑残的词啊!”


TOO BIG TO FAIL
瘦死的骆驼比马大

"Does such a thing exist? We'll never know if a company is too big to fail, unless somehow it does fail, and then it will no longer be too big to fail. Make it stop!"

“真的吗?我们永远不会知道一家公司是否强大到屹立不倒,除非它真的倒了,不过那时也没这个说法了,所以还是省省吧。”


BROMANCE
兄弟罗曼史

"Have we really reached the point where being friends has to be described in a pseudo-romantic context? "

“哥们就是哥们,非得玩假暧昧不行吗?”

"I am sick of combined words the media creates to make them sound catchier. Frenemies? Bromances? Blogorrhea? I'm going to scream!"

“我实在受不了媒体为炒作而编造出的这些词了,什么‘友敌’‘兄弟罗曼史’‘水博’,我要抓狂了!”


CHILLAXING Chill+Relax+ing

"A bothersome term."

“一个特烦人的词。”


OBAMA-prefix or roots?
奥巴马前缀或奥巴马词根

The LSSU Word Banishment Committee held out hope that folks would want to Obama-ban Obama-structions, but were surprised that no one Obama-nominated any, such as these compiled by the Oxford Dictionary in 2009: Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland….We say Obamanough already.

密歇根州州立苏必利尔湖大学词语封杀委员会指望人们会“奥氏”封杀“奥氏”词组,但惊讶地发现居然没有一个“奥氏”提名,比如09年收入牛津字典的Obamanomics, Obamanation,Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland……我们说,奥巴马可以打住了。

冰天雪地,宅在家里学习 [沪江网校寒假班级推荐]
【2010.3中高级口译寒假班】
中级口译寒假班 沪上名师主讲,仅售288学币!
高级口译寒假班 沪上名师主讲,仅售298学币!
【BEC商务英语中级寒假班】
寒假开课,仅售279学币!点击查看报名详情>>
【2010日语入门至中级 0-N2寒假班】
寒假开课,日语零基础学习!点击查看报名详情>>