Vuvuzelas, the plastic horns that provided the soundtrack for the World Cup in South Africa, have blared their way into a dictionary containing the latest words in the English language.
The deafening trumpets are one new entry in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English, which is based on how language is really used.
Their monotone drone could be heard throughout matches during the tournament, and came in for criticism from both players and spectators.
The new accolade for the horns, whose buzzing has been compared to a hornets’ nest, came after “vuvuzela” was voted the word of the World Cup in a survey of global linguists last month.
It was chosen by 75 percent of more than 320 linguists from over 60 countries, who were asked to choose the word with the biggest impact on the tournament.
Vuvuzela was just one of more than 2,000 new entries in the third edition of the dictionary, which was first published in 1998.
The battle to deal with climate change provided “carbon capture and storage,” the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels.
The economic crisis also introduced new terms. These included “toxic debt,” debt which has a high risk of default, and “quantitative easing,” which is the introduction of new money into the national supply by a central bank.(AFP)
在南非世界盃足球賽上震天作響的塑膠喇叭「vuvuzela」(巫巫茲拉),已成為某英文字典最新收錄的字彙。
依據字詞實際使用的狀況而編寫的牛津英文大字典,決定在它最新版本裡納入「巫巫茲拉」一字。
世足賽期間,每場賽事都可聽到它們發出的單調嗡嗡聲,因此引來球員和觀眾的諸多批評。
上個月一項針對全球語言學家所作的調查顯示,嗡嗡聲和大黃蜂巢有得比的「巫巫茲拉」獲選為本屆世足賽之字後,便納入最新收錄詞彙。
該調查邀集六十多國的三百二十多位語言學家,票選心目中對本屆世足賽影響最大的字,結果有七成五的人選擇「巫巫茲拉」。
一九九八年發行初版的牛津英文大字典,第三版納入了兩千多個新字詞,「巫巫茲拉」只是其中之一。
其他收錄的詞彙還有:對抗氣候變遷所帶來的「carbon capture and storage」(碳回收與封存)──藉由燃燒化石燃料回收並封存二氧化碳的過程。
經濟危機也創造了一些新詞:「toxic debt」(有毒債務)──極可能無法償還的債務,以及「quantitative easing」(量化寬鬆)──中央銀行提高全國貨幣供應,注入新的流通性。
(法新社╱翻譯:林倩如)
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