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AnneCurzan_2014X-_是什么让词汇成为“真的”_
I need to start by telling you a little bit about my social life, which I know may not seem relevant , but it is. 首先我需要告诉你 一些关于我的社交生活。 我知道这看起来也许没什么关联, 但的确是有关系的。
relevant:adj.相关的;切题的;中肯的;有重大关系的;有意义的,目的明确的;
When people meet me at parties and they find out that I'm an English professor who specializes in language, they generally have one of two reactions . 当人们在聚会的时候碰上我 并且发现我是一个 专攻语言学的英文教授的时候, 他们通常有两种反应:
specializes:v.专门研究(或从事);专攻;(specialize的第三人称单数) generally:adv.通常;普遍地,一般地; reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数)
One set of people look frightened . (Laughter) 一种人表现出很害怕。（笑声）
frightened:adj.害怕的;受惊的;惊吓的;v.使惊吓;使惊恐;(frighten的过去分词和过去式)
They often say something like, 他们通常这样说,
Oh, I'd better be careful what I say. “喔,我得小心说话了。
I'm sure you'll hear every mistake I make. 我敢肯定你能听出我说的每个错误。”
And then they stop talking. (Laughter) 然后他们就不再说话了。（笑声）
And they wait for me to go away and talk to someone else. 然后他们等着我走开 再去跟其他人说话。
The other set of people, their eyes light up, and they say, 另外一种人呢, 他们的眼睛亮了起来, 他们说,
You are just the person I want to talk to. “你正好是我想交谈的人。”
And then they tell me about whatever it is they think is going wrong with the English language. 然后他们会告诉我他们认为 什么用法在英文里是错误的。
(Laughter) 笑声
A couple of weeks ago, I was at a dinner party and the man to my right started telling me about all the ways that the Internet is degrading the English language. 几个星期以前,在一个晚餐聚会上, 坐在我右边的男人 开始告诉我英特网 正在以各种方式简化着英语。
dinner party:晚宴; degrading:adj.降低身份的; v.降低…身份; (degrade的现在分词)
He brought up Facebook, and he said, 他提起脸书,并且说,
To defriend ? I mean, is that even a real word? “To defriend? 我的意思是,有这么个单词吗？”
defriend:v.删除好友;
I want to pause on that question: 我想在这个问题上打住:
What makes a word real? 到底是什么让一个单词”变真“的？
My dinner companion and I both know what the verb defriend means, so when does a new word like defriend become real? 我和这位先生都知道 动词“defriend（取消作为朋友）是什么意思, 那么一个像”defriend这样的新单词何时 能变成真的单词？
companion:n.同伴;伴侣;陪伴;手册;v.(与…)同行;(跟…)搭伴儿去;
Who has the authority to make those kinds of official decisions about words, anyway? 究竟是谁有这种权力来 为这些单词做出官方的认定呢？
authority:n.权威;权力;当局; official:adj.官方的;正式的;公务的;n.官员;公务员;高级职员;
Those are the questions I want to talk about today. 这些就是我今天想谈论的。
I think most people, when they say a word isn't real, what they mean is, it doesn't appear in a standard dictionary. 我认为大部分人,当他们在说一个并不真实的单词时 他们的意思是,它还没有出现 在一本标准的字典里。
standard:n.标准;水准;旗;度量衡标准;adj.标准的;合规格的;公认为优秀的;
That, of course, raises a host of other questions, including, who writes dictionaries? 那当然还引出了许多其它的问题, 包括,是哪些人编纂了字典？
Before I go any further, let me clarify my role in all of this. 在我进一步阐述之前, 让我声明一下我工作的范畴。
clarify:v.澄清;阐明;得到澄清;得到净化;
I do not write dictionaries. 我没有编过字典,
I do, however, collect new words much the way dictionary editors do, and the great thing about being a historian of the English language is that I get to call this research. 但我的确收集过新的单词 跟字典的编辑做的差不多, 作为 一个英文语言历史学家的最佳之处 就是我可以把这叫做“研究”。
When I teach the history of the English language, 当我教英文语言历史这门课的时候
I require that students teach me two new slang words before I will begin class. 我要求学生们在我开讲之前教我 两个新的俚语单词。
slang:n.俚语;行话;adj.俚语的;vi.用粗话骂;vt.用俚语说;
Over the years, I have learned some great new slang this way, including hangry , which -- which is when you are cranky or angry because you are hungry, and adorkable, which is when you are adorable in kind of a dorky way, clearly, terrific words that fill important gaps in the English language. 多年以来,我已经通过 这种方法学到了很多新的俚语。 包括“饥饿“ ,”这个－ 这个是说 因为你饿了,你就会感到愤怒而且蛮不讲理, 还有“adorkable,” 是说当你 因为某种蠢笨而显得可爱的时候, 很清楚,精彩的词汇 填补着英文语言的空缺。
hangry:adj.饿怒,指因为饥饿而发火; cranky:adj.暴躁的;古怪的;动摇的; adorable:adj.可爱的;可敬重的,值得崇拜的; dorky:愚蠢的;笨拙的;过时的; terrific:adj.极好的;极其的,非常的;可怕的; gaps:n.差异,缺口;缝隙(gap的复数形式);v.裂开;使豁裂(gap的第三人称单数形式);
(Laughter) 笑声。
But how real are they if we use them primarily as slang and they don't yet appear in a dictionary? 然而,这些词汇有多少真实 如果我们只是把它们作为俚语 而它们还没有出现在字典里？
primarily:adv.首先;主要地,根本上;
With that, let's turn to dictionaries. 带着这个疑问,让我们来看看字典。
I'm going to do this as a show of hands: 请现场观众举手, 让我来看看
How many of you still regularly refer to a dictionary, either print or online? 你们中间有多少人依然 查字典,不管是印刷版还是网上的？
regularly:adv.经常地;有规律地;定期的 refer:v.参考;涉及;提到;查阅;
Okay, so that looks like most of you. 嗯,看起来大多数人都还这样做。
Now, a second question. Again, a show of hands: 现在第二个问题,再次举手:
How many of you have ever looked to see who edited the dictionary you are using? 你们中间有多少人曾经查看 是谁编辑了你用的字典？
edited:v.编辑,校订;编选;编集;(edit的过去分词和过去式)
Okay, many fewer. 好的,这不太多。
At some level, we know that there are human hands behind dictionaries, but we're really not sure who those hands belong to. 在某种程度上,我们都知道 字典是人编的, 但我们并不知道他们是谁。
I'm actually fascinated by this. 事实上我对此很感兴趣。
Even the most critical people out there tend not to be very critical about dictionaries, not distinguishing among them and not asking a whole lot of questions about who edited them. 即使是重要人物 也不会对字典很挑剔, 不会去分辨它们 不会去问很多有关 谁编辑了那些字典的问题。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的; distinguishing:v.区分;辨别;分清;看清;认出;听出;(distinguish的现在分词)
Just think about the phrase 想想这个短句
Look it up in the dictionary, which suggests that all dictionaries are exactly the same. “到字典里去找,” 那是在说所有的字典 是一模一样的。
Consider the library here on campus , where you go into the reading room , and there is a large, unabridged dictionary up on a pedestal in this place of honor and respect lying open so we can go stand before it to get answers. 想想校园里的图书馆 你去了阅读室, 那儿有一本巨大的,没有删节的字典 在一个有着荣誉和令人尊敬的台座上 摊开放着,那么我们可以站在它的面前翻阅, 得到答案。
campus:n.(大学)校园;大学,大学生活;校园内的草地; reading room:n.阅览室; unabridged:adj.完整的;未经删节的;足本的; pedestal:n.基架,基座;基础;vt.搁在台上;支持;加座;
Now, don't get me wrong, dictionaries are fantastic resources , but they are human and they are not timeless . 现在,别把我想错了, 字典是奇妙的源泉, 但它们来自人类, 它们不是永恒的。
fantastic:奇异的,空想的 resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数); timeless:adj.永恒的;不受时间影响的;不合时宜的;
I'm struck as a teacher that we tell students to critically question every text they read, every website they visit, except dictionaries, which we tend to treat as un-authored, as if they came from nowhere to give us answers about what words really mean. 我作为一个老师 经常告诉学生要批判性 地对待他们读到的每段文字,浏览的每个网站, 但字典除外, 我们好像把它作为没有作者的, 好像它们自然而然地给了我们 关于所有单字的意思的答案。
critically:adv.精密地;危急地;批评性地;用钻研眼光地; treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣; nowhere:v.无处; n.无处; adj.不存在的;
Here's the thing: If you ask dictionary editors, what they'll tell you is they're just trying to keep up with us as we change the language. 其实:如果你询问字典的编辑, 他们会跟你说的 是他们正在努力跟上我们的脚步 当我们改变语言的时候。
keep up with:赶得上;和…保持联系;
They're watching what we say and what we write and trying to figure out what's going to stick and what's not going to stick. 他们看我们怎么说和写的 并且努力弄清楚什么会一直继续, 而什么是不会继续的。
They have to gamble , because they want to appear cutting edge and catch the words that are going to make it, such as LOL, but they don't want to appear faddish 他们不得不赌一下, 因为他们想展示其跟上了时代, 并且抓住那些能够成功的词 比如说 LOL, 但是他们并不想显得赶时髦
gamble:vi.赌博; vt.赌博; n.赌博; cutting edge:n.(刀片的)刃口;尖端;前沿;adj.先进的,尖端的; faddish:adj.风行的;流行一时的;
and include the words that aren't going to make it, and I think a word that they're watching right now is YOLO, you only live once. 包括那些不能成功的单词, 我想他们现在正在关注的一个单词是 YOLO,意思是你只活一次。
Now I get to hang out with dictionary editors, and you might be surprised by one of the places where we hang out. 现在我得跟字典编辑常在一起, 你也许会惊讶 于一个我们去过的地方。
hang out with:与…出去玩;与…闲逛;
Every January, we go to the American Dialect Society annual meeting, where among other things, we vote on the word of the year. 每年一月,我们都去 美国地方语言社的年会, 除了其他事情, 我们还选出当年的”热词“。
Dialect:n.方言;地方话;土话; annual:n.年报;年鉴;年刊;adj.每年的;年度的;一年的;
There are about 200 or 300 people who come, some of the best known linguists in the United States. 大约有200 到300 人参加, 有一些是最知名的美国的语言专家。
linguists:[语]语言学家(linguist的复数); United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
To give you a sense of the flavor of the meeting, it occurs right before happy hour . 告诉你这个会议的一点儿有味道的小料吧, 它总是在“快乐小时”之前开始。
flavor:n.情味,风味;香料;滋味;v.加味于; occurs:v.重现(occur的第三人称单数); happy hour:n.快乐时间;减价供应饮料等的时间(酒吧间术语);
Anyone who comes can vote. 任何来者都可以投票。
The most important rule is that you can vote with only one hand. 最重要的规则是 你只能用一只手表决。
In the past, some of the winners have been tweet in 2009 and hashtag in 2012. 过去,有些通过的单词有
hashtag:n.标签;
Chad was the word of the year in the year 2000, because who knew what a chad was before 2000, and WMD in 2002. “chad是200年获选的单词。 因为Chad是在2000年前就知道的是什么意思的,
Now, we have other categories in which we vote too, and my favorite category is most creative word of the year. 现在,我们有其它的分类可以评选, 我最喜欢的分类 是这一年最有创造性的单词。
categories:n.(人或事物的)类别,种类(category的复数) category:n.种类,分类;[数]范畴; creative:adj.创造性的;
Past winners in this category have included recombobulation area, which is at the Milwaukee Airport after security, where you can recombobulate. 这一类里获选的的单词包括 意思是在米尔瓦奇机场安全检查后, 你可以重新整理自己的行装。
Milwaukee:n.(美国)密尔沃基; Airport:n.机场;航空港;
(Laughter) 笑声
You can put your belt back on, put your computer back in your bag. 你可以系上你的皮带, 把电脑放回自己的包里。
belt:n.皮带;腰带;传动带;传送带;v.猛击;狠打;飞奔;飞驰;
And then my all-time favorite word at this vote, which is multi-slacking. 这次评选中我最爱的单词
all-time:adj.空前的;全部时间的;历来的;
(Laughter) 笑声
And multi-slacking is the act of having multiple windows up on your screen so it looks like you're working when you're actually goofing around on the web. 在你的荧幕上有几个窗口同时开着 这看起来好像你在工作 而实际上你在网站上到处漫游。
multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数; goofing:n.呆瓜;vi.打发时间;混;出大错;vt.弄糟;
(Laughter) (Applause) 笑声,鼓掌
Will all of these words stick? Absolutely not . 所有这些单词都会一直使用吗？绝对不可能。
Absolutely not:绝对不会;绝对不是;绝对不行;
And we have made some questionable choices, for example in 2006 when the word of the year was Plutoed, to mean demoted . 我们给出了一些有争议的选择, 比如在2006年 当那年的单词是“plutoed,” 意思是降级,贬低。
questionable:adj.可疑的;有问题的; demoted:v.使降级,使降职,使降低地位;(demote的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) 笑声
But some of the past winners now seem completely unremarkable , such as app and e as a prefix , and google as a verb. 但有些过去的获选单词’ 现在看起来完全不起眼了, 比如“app” 和“e作为前缀, 还有”Google“作为动词。
unremarkable:adj.平凡的;不显著的;不值得注意的; prefix:n.前缀;vt.加前缀;将某事物加在前面; google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎;
Now, a few weeks before our vote, 现在在我们评选之前的几星期,
Lake Superior State University issues its list of banished words for the year. 州立高湖大学 给出了一些今年要取消的单词。
Superior:n.上级;上司;adj.(在品质上)更好的;占优势的;更胜一筹的; State University:n.(美国)州立大学; issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数) banished:v.放逐;流放;赶走;驱除;(banish的过去分词和过去式)
What is striking about this is that there's actually often quite a lot of overlap between their list and the list that we are considering for words of the year, and this is because we're noticing the same thing. 比较烦人的是 事实上 在他们的列表和我们正在考虑的 新词当中,总是有很多”撞车“的地方。 这是因为我们总在注意同样的事情,
overlap:n.重叠;重复;v.部分重叠;与…同时发生;
We're noticing words that are coming into prominence . 我们总注意那些能造成影响的词汇。
prominence:n.突出;显著;突出物;卓越;
It's really a question of attitude . 这的确是一个态度问题。
attitude:n.态度;看法;意见;姿势;
Are you bothered by language fads and language change, or do you find it fun, interesting, something worthy of study as part of a living language? 你是注意时髦的语言和语言的变化 还是发现它有趣或是 作为一种活的语言, 它有值得研究的东西？
bothered:adj.烦(恼)的; v.使(某人)烦恼; fads:n.时尚(fad的复数); worthy:adj.值得的; n.杰出人物;
The list by Lake Superior State University continues a fairly long tradition in English of complaints about new words. 州立高湖大学的列表 继续着英语中一个相当长时间的 抱怨新词汇的传统
fairly:adv.相当地;公平地;简直; complaints:n.不满;抱怨;投诉;控告;(complaint的复数)
So here is Dean Henry Alford in 1875, who was very concerned that desirability is really a terrible word. 这儿是1875年亨利阿尔福德校长 非常关注“desirability” 这个词 认为这是一个可怕的单词。
Dean:n.院长;系主任;教务长;主持牧师; concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词) desirability:n.愿望;有利条件;值得向往的事物;合意;
In 1760, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to David Hume giving up the word colonize as bad. 1760年,本杰明.富兰克林 给戴维.胡米写的一封信 要放弃“colonize”这个坏单词。
colonize:vt.将…开拓为殖民地; vi.开拓殖民地;
Over the years, we've also seen worries about new pronunciations. 许多年来,我们也看到 关于新发音的担心。
Here is Samuel Rogers in 1855 who is concerned about some fashionable pronunciations that he finds offensive , and he says as if contemplate were not bad enough, balcony makes me sick. 这是1855年山米尔.罗杰斯 关注一些时尚的发音 他觉得那很令人反感, 他说“如果只是想想还不够坏的话, 那么“balcony”就让我感到恶心。”
fashionable:adj.流行的;时髦的;上流社会的; offensive:n.进攻;攻势;攻击;侵犯;adj.冒犯的;得罪人的;无礼的; contemplate:v.沉思;注视;思忖;预期; balcony:n.阳台;包厢;戏院楼厅;
(Laughter) 笑声
The word is borrowed in from Italian and it was pronounced bal-COE-nee. 这个词是借用了意大利语 它实际上发音做Bal－COE－nee。
These complaints now strike us as quaint , if not downright adorkable -- (Laughter) -- but here's the thing: we still get quite worked up about language change. 这些抱怨作为一种趣闻让我们发笑, 如果不是彻头彻尾的adorkble--(笑声） 但事情是这样的: 我们会因为语言的变化而感到不安。
quaint:adj.古雅的;奇怪的;离奇有趣的;做得很精巧的; downright:adj.明白的;直率的;显明的;adv.完全,彻底;全然;
I have an entire file in my office of newspaper articles which express concern about illegitimate words that should not have been included in the dictionary, including LOL when it got into the Oxford English Dictionary and defriend when it got into the Oxford American Dictionary. 在我的办公室里,我有一个 新闻报纸的归档, 全是对单词的合法性的质疑, 声称哪些单词不该放在字典里面, 包括“LOL”, 当它进入了牛津英语字典时 还有”defriend“ 进入牛津美语字典的时候。
express:v.表达; adj.特快的; n.特快列车; v.使用快速服务; illegitimate:adj.私生的;非法的;不合理的;vt.认做私生子;认为违法;n.非嫡出子;庶子;
I also have articles expressing concern about invite as a noun , impact as a verb, because only teeth can be impacted , and incentivize is described as boorish , bureaucratic misspeak . 我还有文章表达对 “invite”（邀请）作为名词的关注, “impact”（碰撞）作为动词 因为只有牙齿能够impact（碰撞） “粗野,官僚的发音错误。”
expressing:v.表示;表达;表露;显而易见;(express的现在分词) noun:n.名词; impacted:adj.压紧的;结实的;嵌入的;(人口)稠密的;v.装紧;挤满(impact的过去分词); incentivize:以物质刺激鼓励; described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式) boorish:adj.粗野的;粗鲁的;粗鄙的;笨拙的;乡土气的; bureaucratic:adj.官僚的;官僚政治的; misspeak:vt.讲错;发错…的音;vi.讲错;发错音;
Now, it's not that dictionary editors ignore these kinds of attitudes about language. 并不是字典的编辑们 忽略了他们的这种态度;
ignore:v.驳回诉讼;忽视;不理睬; attitudes:n.态度,看法(attitude复数);
They try to provide us some guidance about words that are considered slang or informal or offensive, often through usage labels , but they're in something of a bind , because they're trying to describe what we do, and they know that we often go to dictionaries to get information about how we should use a word well or appropriately . 他们努力给我们提供关于 那些被认作俚语或非正式词汇的 或者那些令人反感的词条的一些指导,常常通过附录的形式 但他们有时也左右为难, 因为他们尝试着描述我们的所作所为, 他们知道我们常借助字典 来得到如何 正确或者合适地使用一个词汇的信息
informal:adj.非正式的;不拘礼节的;通俗的;日常使用的; usage:n.使用;利用;利用率;惯用法; labels:n.标签;分类(label的复数形式);v.贴标签于;把…称为(label的三单形式); bind:v.结合;装订;有约束力;过紧;n.捆绑;困境;讨厌的事情;植物的藤蔓; appropriately:adj.适当地;合适地;相称地;
In response , the American Heritage Dictionaries include usage notes. 因此,美国遗产字典 包括了用法注释
response:n.响应;反应;回答; Heritage:n.遗产;传统;继承物;继承权;
Usage notes tend to occur with words that are troublesome in one way, and one of the ways that they can be troublesome is that they're changing meaning. 用法注释多出现 在某个方面有问题的单词, 其中一种可能成为麻烦 的问题是它们在改变词义
troublesome:adj.麻烦的;讨厌的;使人苦恼的;
Now usage notes involve very human decisions, and I think, as dictionary users, we're often not as aware of those human decisions as we should be. 新的用法注释包括了很人性的决定, 我想,作为字典的使用者, 我们不会太注意是谁的决定 虽然我们应该注意
involve:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加;
To show you what I mean, we'll look at an example, but before we do, 为了让你明白我的意思, 让我们来看一个例子,但在此之前,
I want to explain what the dictionary editors are trying to deal with in this usage note. 我想解释字典的编辑们 在用法注释上是如何处理的
Think about the word peruse and how you use that word. 想想单词“peruse”（细读） 你是怎样使用的
peruse:vt.详细考察;精读;
I would guess many of you are thinking of skim , scan, reading quickly. 我猜你们很多人想着 浏览,细看,快读等等。
skim:v.浏览; n.撇去浮沫; adj.撇去奶油的;
Some of you may even have some walking involved , because you're perusing grocery store shelves, or something like that. 你们一些人甚至还包括了走路, 因为你在浏览杂货店的货物架, 或者类似的事。
involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) perusing:v.细读;研读;(peruse的现在分词) grocery:n.食品杂货店;食品杂货;
You might be surprised to learn that if you look in most standard dictionaries, the first definition will be to read carefully, or pour over. 你也许很吃惊地得知 如果你在最标准的字典上查找 首条定义是仔细地读 或者是伏案的意思
definition:n.定义;清晰度;(尤指词典里的词或短语的)释义;解释; pour:v.倒; n.流出; (已熔金属的)一次浇注量;
American Heritage has that as the first definition. 美国遗产字典的第一个定义也是那个意思,
They then have, as the second definition, skim, and next to that, they say usage problem. 然后浏览是第二个意思, 再下面就是他们所说的“用法问题。”
(Laughter) 笑声
And then they include a usage note, which is worth looking at. 然后他们包括了一个用法注释, 值得一看。
So here's the usage note: 这儿就是这个用法注释:
Peruse has long meant 'to read thoroughly' ... “peruse 很长时期都被认为是‘精读’。。。
But the word if often used more loosely , to mean simply 'to read.' ... 但它的词义更多时候是比较宽松的, 只是意味着‘阅读’。。。
loosely:adv.宽松地;放荡地;轻率地;
Further extension of the word to mean 'to glance over , skim,' has traditionally been considered an error, but our ballot results suggest that it is becoming somewhat more acceptable . 更多词义的延伸是“看一眼,浏览,” 这些在传统上被认为是错的, 但我们的表决结果建议它的这些意思 更容易接受。
extension:n.延长;延期;扩大;伸展;电话分机; glance over:浏览;简略阅读; traditionally:adv.传统上;习惯上;传说上; ballot:n.投票;投票用纸;投票总数;vi.投票;抽签决定;vt.使投票表决;拉选票; somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微; acceptable:adj.认同的;可接受的;令人满意的;
When asked about the sentence, 'I only had a moment to peruse the manual quickly,' 66 percent of the [Usage] Panel found it unacceptable in 1988, 58 percent in 1999, and 48 percent in 2011. 当问到关于这句话的时候, “我只有一点儿时间,就只看了手册一眼,” 1988年,百分之六十六的用法委员会成员 觉得这不能接受, 到1999年,只有百分之五十八, 在2011年是百分之四十八。“
manual:n.说明书;指南;使用手册;adj.用手的;手工的;体力的;手动的; Panel:n.镶板;仪表盘;钣金;(衣服上的)镶条;v.镶板(用木或玻璃板等镶嵌或装饰); unacceptable:adj.不能接受(或允许、同意)的;
Ah, the Usage Panel, that trusted body of language authorities who is getting more lenient about this. 啊,用法委员会, 那个被充分信任的语言权威 对这是越来越宽容了。
authorities:n.权力;威权;职权;批准;(authority的复数) lenient:adj.宽大的;仁慈的;
Now, what I hope you're thinking right now is, 现在,我希望你们在想的是,
Wait, who's on the Usage Panel? “等等,谁是用法委员会？
And what should I do with their pronouncements ? 对于他们的通告我们该做些什么？
pronouncements:n.声明;宣告;公告;判决;
If you look in the front matter of American Heritage Dictionaries, you can actually find the names of the people on the Usage Panel. 如果你看看 美国遗产字典的前页, 事实上你可以找到 用法委员会成员名单。
But who looks at the front matter of dictionaries? 但是谁去注意字典的前页呢？
There are about 200 people on the Usage Panel. 大约有200个人在用法委员会名单上。
They include academicians, journalists , creative writers. 包括学者们, 记者们,创作型作家们。
journalists:n.新闻记者(journalist的复数);
There's a Supreme Court justice on it and a few linguists. 还有高级法院的法官, 和不多的语言学家。
Supreme Court:最高法院; justice:n.公平;公正;司法制度;审判;
As of 2005, the list includes me. 2005年开始,我也在名单里。
(Applause) 鼓掌
Here's what we can do for you. 这儿是我们能为你做的。
We can give you a sense of the range of opinions about contested usage. 我们能给你 有争议的用法的一些不同的意见。
That is and should be the extent of our authority. 那就应该是我们权力范畴
extent:n.程度;范围;长度;
We are not a language academy . 我们并不是语言学院。
academy:n.学院;研究院;学会;专科院校;
About once a year, I get a ballot that asks me about whether new uses, new pronunciations, new meanings, are acceptable. 大概是一年一次,我得到一张投票单, 要求我看看是否有新的用法, 新的发音,新的词义可以接受。
Now here's what I do to fill out the ballot. 而这就是我收到邀请后所做的。
I listen to what other people are saying and writing. 我听取其他人说的和写的。
I do not listen to my own likes and dislikes about the English language. 我并不听从我自己 是否喜欢那个英文词汇。
I will be honest with you: 我坦诚地告诉你们:
I do not like the word impactful , but that is neither here nor there in terms of whether impactful is becoming common usage and becoming more acceptable in written prose. 我不喜欢这个词“impactful,”（有影响力的） 但这并不是 决定“impactful“是否成为普遍使用
impactful:adj.有效的;有力的; neither here nor there:不相干;与题目不相干;不重要;
So to be responsible , what I do is go look at usage, which often involves going to look at online databases such as Google Books. 那么为了负责任, 我所做的就是参考使用情况 通常是包括 到网上比如说Google图书里去查找。
responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; involves:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加,加入(involve的第三人称单数)
Well, if you look for impactful in Google Books, here is what you find. 那么,如果你到那里去找“impactful”这个词, 你就会发现,
Well, it sure looks like impactful is proving useful for a certain number of writers, and has become more and more useful over the last 20 years. “impactful”这个词 的确很有实用价值, 被一些作家们使用, 而且 经过近20年来,越来越流行
Now, there are going to be changes that all of us don't like in the language. 现在,将会有一些 我们所有人都不太喜欢的语言上的变化。
There are going to be changes where you think, 也会有些变化让你这么想,
Really? “真的？
Does the language have to change that way? 语言一定要那样改变吗？”
What I'm saying is, we should be less quick to decide that that change is terrible, we should be less quick to impose our likes and dislikes about words on other people, and we should be entirely reluctant to think that the English language is in trouble. 我要说的是, 我们应该比较缓慢 地决定这种变化是可怕的。 我们应该比较缓慢地把我们 的喜欢或者不喜欢的词汇强加给别人, 我们不应该完全厌恶地 想英语有了麻烦
impose:v.推行;迫使;强制实行;把…强加于; reluctant:adj.不情愿的;勉强的;顽抗的;
It's not. It is rich and vibrant and filled with the creativity of the speakers who speak it. 不是这样的。它是丰富的, 充满活力 被那些具有想象力的人创造出来
vibrant:adj.振动的;充满生气的;响亮的;战栗的;
In retrospect , we think it's fascinating that the word nice used to mean silly, and that the word decimate used to mean to kill one in every 10. 我们回想起来会觉得它是迷人的 “nice（好）”这个词过去被用作“傻”, “dicimate（消灭）这个词 的意思可以用来作为每十个里面消灭一个。
retrospect:n.回顾,追溯;vi.回顾,追溯;回想;vt.回顾;追忆; fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词) decimate:vt.十中抽一,取十分之一;大批杀害;
(Laughter) 笑声
We think that Ben Franklin was being silly to worry about notice as a verb. 我们认为本.富兰克林傻傻地 担心把“notice（注意）”作为动词。
Well, you know what? 那么,你知道吗？
We're going to look pretty silly in a hundred years for worrying about impact as a verb and invite as a noun. 在一百年以后我们也会被认为很傻 因为担心“impact（撞击）”作为一个动词 而“invite”作为名词。
The language is not going to change so fast that we can't keep up. 语言本身不会发生那些 我们跟不上的变化。
Language just doesn't work that way. 语言本身不会那样运作。
I hope that what you can do is find language change not worrisome but fun and fascinating, just the way dictionary editors do. 而我希望你能做的 是发现了语言的变化却不要去担心 而是感到有趣和迷人, 就像字典的编辑们所做的一样。
worrisome:adj.令人烦恼的,令人不安的;麻烦的;
I hope you can enjoy being part of the creativity that is continually remaking our language and keeping it robust . 我希望你能享受成为 创造力的一部分,一直重新 塑造我们的语言并且让它生机勃勃
continually:adv.不断地;频繁地; remaking:v.重新制作,改编;重做;(remake的现在分词) robust:adj.强健的;健康的;粗野的;粗鲁的;
So how does a word get into a dictionary? 所以一个词汇是怎样走进字典的？
It gets in because we use it and we keep using it, and dictionary editors are paying attention to us. 那是因为我们使用它 并且我们一直使用它, 然后字典的编辑就对我们注意了
If you're thinking, But that lets all of us decide what words mean, 如果你在想,“那样就是让我们大家 来决定单词的意思了,”
I would say, Yes it does, and it always has. 我会说,“是的,就是这样, 而且一直都是这样。”
Dictionaries are a wonderful guide and resource, but there is no objective dictionary authority out there that is the final arbiter about what words mean. 字典是奇妙的指导和资源 但绝不是真正的字典权威, 成为词汇意思的最后仲裁者。
objective:n.目标; adj.客观的; arbiter:n.[法]仲裁者;裁决人;
If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it's real. 如果人们都在使用一个单词 并且知道它的意思,它就是真的
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
That word might be slangy , that word might be informal, that word might be a word that you think is illogical or unnecessary, but that word that we're using, that word is real. 那个单词可能是俚语, 那个单词可能不正规, 那个单词可能是你认为 不合逻辑或者不必要的, 但那个单词是我们正在使用的, 那个单词就是真的。
slangy:adj.俚语的;俗话多的;好用俚语的; illogical:adj.不合逻辑的;不合常理的;
Thank you. 谢谢你们
(Applause) 鼓掌