牛津词典2017年度词语：“青年震荡”
韦氏词典(Merriam-Webster)选出的年度词语是“女性主义”(feminism);Dictionary.com网站选的是“同谋”(complicit);而剑桥词典(Cambridge Dictionary)选的是“民粹主义”(populism)。
Now, Oxford Dictionaries is announcing that its international Word of the Year for 2017 is … “youthquake”?
现在，牛津词典(Oxford Dictionaries)宣布它的2017年国际年度词语是……“青年震荡”(youthquake)?
“Youthquake” — defined as a “significant cultural, political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people” — triumphed over a politically pointed shortlist that included “Antifa,” “broflake,” “kompromat,” “fragility” and “Milkshake Duck.” Katherine Connor Martin, the head of Oxford’s new words program, acknowledged that it was an unusual choice.
“青年震荡”——它的定义是“因年轻人的行动或影响而引发的重大文化、政治或社会变革”——击败了从政治角度选出的候选名单上的其他词语，包括“反法西斯”(Antifa)、“broflake”(玻璃心男子)、“黑材料”(kompromat)、“脆弱”(fragility)和“奶昔鸭”(Milkshake Duck)。牛津词典新词汇项目的负责人凯瑟琳·康纳·马丁(Katherine Connor Martin)承认，这是一个不同寻常的选择。
The former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland apparently coined “youthquake” in the 1960s, to describe the youth culture of Swinging London, and it maintained a modest if somewhat retro currency in conversations about style. But in the past year its frequency increased by about 400 percent, according to analysis of the Oxford English Corpus, which collects roughly 150 million words of spoken and written English from various sources each month.
前《Vogue》主编戴安娜·弗里兰(Diana Vreeland)似乎是在20世纪60年代创造了“youthquake”一词，用以描述“摇摆伦敦”运动(Swinging London)中的青年文化，这个词偶见于时尚谈话中。但是，根据牛津英语语料库(Oxford English Corpus)的分析，在过去的一年里，它的使用频率增加了约400%。该语料库每个月收集约1.5亿个英语口语和书面词语。
It surged first in coverage of the British parliamentary elections in June, when a spike in voting by young people helped deal a blow to the Conservative Party, before spreading to political commentary in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and elsewhere.
在6月份关于英国议会选举的报道中，它的使用量首次飙升，当时年轻投票者数量的激增打击了保守党，而后扩展到新西兰、澳大利亚和美国等地的政治评论中。
“It has a very neat symmetry,” Ms. Martin said. “It originally referred to changes in fashion caused by baby boomers coming of age. Now, we’re seeing it emerge in an electoral politics context, as millennials displace the baby boomers.”
“它很对称，”马丁说。“它最初指的是婴儿潮时代出生的人成年后给时尚带来的变化。现在，它出现在选举政治语境中，因为千禧一代取代了婴儿潮一代。”
Some dictionary companies’ choices are based on frequency of look-ups. Oxford’s Word of the Year, Ms. Martin said, reflects not just social and political issues, but is also intended to highlight the ways language changes over time. (Its choice last year was “post-truth.”)
有些词典的年度之选是基于查词频率。马丁表示，牛津词典的年度词语不仅反映了社会和政治议题，而且意在强调语言随着时间流逝而变化的方式(该词典去年选择的是“后真相”[post-truth])。
Some words on this year’s shortlist, like “kompromat” and “Antifa,” are foreign loan words that suddenly became part of common English vocabulary, thanks to current events. Others are coinages that reflect intersecting, long-developing language trends.
今年短名单上的一些词，如“黑材料”和“反法西斯”，都是外来词，由于时事的缘故，突然成了普通英语词汇的一部分。还有一些是新造词，它们反映了互相交叉、长期发展的语言趋势。
Take “broflake,” a derogatory term for a conservative man who is easily offended by progressive attitudes (even as he mocks progressives as overly sensitive “snowflakes”). It reflects the tendency, especially in online discourse, to reappropriate insults in highly ironic, self-referential ways.
以“玻璃心男子”为例，它是一个贬义词，指的是那些很容易被进步观点冒犯的保守人士(他们嘲笑进步人士是过于敏感的“雪花”[snowflakes])。它反映了一种倾向，那就是，以高度讽刺、自我参照的方式借用他人对自己的侮辱进行反击，尤其是在网络对话中。
It also reflects the way portmanteau coinages incorporating “bro-” and “man-” — “portmanbros,” if you will — have increasingly taken on a critical edge, in keeping with shifts in conversations around gender.
它也反映出将“bro-”(兄弟)和“man-”(男子)结合起来的合并新造词(你可以称它们为portmanbros[由bro构成的合成词])越来越呈现出一种关键优势，因应了围绕性别议题的谈话变化。
“How we get from relatively genial terms like ‘bromance’ or ‘man cave’ to more critical terms like ‘broflake’ or ‘manspreading’ is interesting,” Ms. Martin said. “It speaks to the way people are increasingly interested in questioning what they see as male privilege.”
“我们是如何从‘bromance’(兄弟情)或‘man cave’(男人窝)等相对温和的表达，转向‘broflake’或‘manspreading’(男性岔腿而坐)等含有更多批评意味的词语的——这个现象很有趣，”马丁说。“它表明，人们越来越有兴趣质疑他们眼中的男性特权。”
Dictionaries are supposed to provide objective information about how words are used, Ms. Martin emphasized, not to weigh in on contemporary issues. But Oxford, in its announcement, did allow that “youthquake” is the rare emerging political term that sounds a “hopeful note.”
马丁强调，词典应该提供关于词语使用方式的客观信息，而不是在当代问题上发表意见。不过，牛津词典在声明中承认，“青年震荡”是一个罕见的新兴政治词语，它听起来像一个“充满希望的音符”。
Of course, the fact that the dreaded millennials are taking over the language may not seem like good news to everyone. Ms. Martin, for the record, identified herself as a “Xennial,” as members of the micro-generation just behind Gen X are sometimes known.
当然，并不是每个人都认为，令人畏惧的千禧一代正在接管语言是个好消息。马丁郑重声明自己是“Xennial”一代，也就是在有时被称为“X一代”(Gen X)之后的数量不多的一代人。
“We considered ‘Xennial’ for the shortlist,” she said, “but it didn’t make the cut.”
“我们考虑过将‘Xennial’加入短名单，”她说，“但它没有过关。”
