Pluto is finally getting some respect — from wordsmiths. "Plutoed" was chosen as the 2006 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting on Friday.
To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something," much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto did not meet its definition of a planet.
"Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name," said Society 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."
"Plutoed" won against "climate canary," defined as "an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon."
Other words in the running were: murse (a man's purse), flog (a fake blog that promotes products) and macaca (an American citizen treated as an alien).
Former Senator George Allen, a Republican who sought re-election last year, was comfortably ahead in polls until August, when he referred to the son of Indian immigrants as a macaca, regarded by some as a racial slur. Allen lost to Democrat Jim Webb. You could say that he plutoed himself!
The 117-year-old American Dialect Society includes linguists, grammarians, historians and independent scholars. In conducting the vote, members do so for fun and not in any official capacity of inducting words into the English language.
(AP)
愛咬文嚼字的人總算給了冥王星一點公道，「Plutoed」在週五美國方言協會年度會議上被選為二○○六年年度風雲詞彙。
「to pluto」表「降級或貶值某人或某物」，正如同冥王星去年的遭遇，因為國際天文學聯合會裁定冥王星不符合行星的定義標準。
「我們的會員相信社會大眾對於冥王星遭降級會產生如此大的反應，顯示出冥王星名稱的重要性，」方言協會主席克里夫蘭．伊凡斯表示︰「我們可能不會再相信羅馬主神冥王星，但我們仍對這顆前任行星有個人情感上的連結。」
「Plutoed」擊敗「climate canary」而勝出，後者定義為「健康狀況不佳或數量下降的有機物或物種，預示著即將發生的大規模環境災害」。
其他入選的字包括︰「murse」（男用皮包）、「flog」（促銷產品的假部落格）、「macaca」（被當成外國人的美國公民）。
前共和黨參議員喬治．艾倫去年競選連任時，民調直到八月都遙遙領先，卻在以被部份人士認為種族歧視的「瑪卡卡」稱呼印度移民後裔後，敗給民主黨的吉姆．韋布。你可以說他讓自己落選了。
有一百一十七年的歷史的美國方言學會，成員包括語言學家、文法學家、歷史學家與獨立學者，他們舉行投票只為樂趣，並不具備將字彙引入英語的正式效力。（美聯社／翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Just yesterday, the boy had helped hang the lucky red couplets. Tonight, as firecrackers signaled the New Year, he lay in bed burning with a surging fever. The herbalist checked the boy’s pulse and went still. “The only cure is in the county town across the mountains,” he said. “But the snow is deep, and the shops are shuttered until the Fourth Day.” The boy’s father looked at the window. “I will go.” “The roads are impassable for a cart,” the herbalist warned. “And too far for a man on foot.” The concerned neighbor
Many animals spend the winter in a deep, low-energy state known as “hibernation.” When food becomes scarce and cold conditions drain body heat, bats, hedgehogs, and some ground squirrels retreat to safe shelters. Their bodies slow down to save energy: heart rates drop, breathing becomes shallow, and body temperature falls. Plenty of preparation goes into hibernation. Shorter days and falling temperatures provoke these animals to eat more and store fat, which sustains the brain and other organs. Inside the body, hormones guide this seasonal change, triggering specific behavior and switching the system to energy-saving mode. Hibernation is not the only winter survival
對話 Dialogue 清清：下個星期公司要辦尾牙，你會去參加嗎？ Qīngqing: Xià gè xīngqī gōngsī yào bàn wěiyá, nǐ huì qù cānjiā ma? 華華：應該會吧。聽說今年會請大家吃一頓不錯的。 Huáhua: Yīnggāi huì ba. Tīng shuō jīnnián huì qǐng dàjiā chī yí dùn búcuò de. 清清：我第一次參加尾牙，有一點緊張，不知道要做什麼。 Qīngqing: Wǒ dì yī cì cānjiā wěiyá, yǒuyìdiǎn jǐnzhāng, bù zhīdào yào zuò shénme. 華華：不用擔心啦，尾牙主要就是吃飯、聊天，大家放鬆一下。 Huáhua: Búyòng dānxīn la, wěiyá zhǔyào jiù shì chīfàn, liáotiān, dàjiā fàngsōng yíxià. 清清：聽說尾牙還會抽獎，是真的嗎？ Qīngqing: Tīng shuō wěiyá hái huì chōujiǎng, shì zhēn de ma? 華華：對啊，有些公司獎品還不錯，所以很多人都很期待。 Huáhua: Duì a, yǒuxiē gōngsī de jiǎngpǐn hái búcuò, suǒyǐ hěn duō rén dōu hěn qídài. 清清：那如果不去，會不會不太好？ Qīngqing: Nà rúguǒ bú qù, huì bú huì bú tài hǎo? 華華：通常不會勉強，不過去參加比較有機會跟同事拉近關係。 Huáhua: Tōngcháng bú huì miǎnqiǎng, búguò qù cānjiā bǐjiào yǒu jīhuì gēn tóngshì
A: The world’s first Pokemon-themed “PokePark Kanto” in Tokyo’s Yomiuriland amusement park is opening today. B: Nintendo Co.’s Pokemon series has swept across the world ever since its launch in 1996. Anything special about this new park? A: PokePark Kanto includes two main zones featuring about 600 kinds of Pokemon. Visitors can not only see but also interact with their favorite monsters. B: Taipei’s Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store A11 Branch also houses Taiwan’s only “Pokemon Center Taipei,” which has become a new hotspot in the city. A: Sounds like fun. So what are some other popular spots in
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