A: Hey, the world’s major dictionaries just unveiled their words of the year for 2025.
B: Yup, the Cambridge Dictionary chose the word “parasocial,” which refers to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they don’t really know.
A: One-sided parasocial relationships with celebrities, influencers and even AI chatbots have clearly become more common.
Photo: AP 照片:美聯社
B: The Oxford Dictionary picked “rage bait” — online content designed to elicit anger by being frustrating, provocative or offensive in order to increase traffic to Web sites or social media accounts.
A: The Collins Dictionary picked “vibe coding.” Let’s look up the word in the dictionary to find its meaning.
A: 世界各大字典近日分別公布了2025年代表字!
B: 劍橋字典的代表字為︰「parasocial」(擬社交),意思是人們自行想像與不認識的名人之社交關係。
A: 人們與名人、網紅、甚至AI聊天機器人的單向擬社交關係明顯在增加中。
B: 牛津字典的代表詞為︰「rage bait」(憤怒誘餌),意思是刻意設計用來激怒他人的網路內容,通常透過令人沮喪、挑釁或冒犯的方式呈現––以增加網頁或社群帳號流量。
A: 柯林斯字典的代表字為︰「vibe coding」(氛圍編程),我們來查字典找出它的意思。
(By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張迪)
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