Unfriend當選年度潮詞
"Unfriend" has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent.
Unfriend was defined as a verb that means to remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking side such as Facebook.
"It has both currency and potential longevity," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program, in a statement.
"In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year."
Other words deemed finalists for 2009 by the dictionary's publisher, Britain's Oxford University Press, came from other technological trends, the economy, and political and current affairs.
In technology, there was "hashtag", which is the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly taged; "intexticated" for when people are distracted by texting while driving, and "sexting", which is the sending of sexually explicit SMSes and pictures by cellphone.
Finalists from the economy included "freemium", meaning a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, and "funemployed", referring to people taking advantage of newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests.
In the political and current affairs section, finalists included "birther", meaning conspiracy theorists challenging President Barack Obama's US birth certificate, and "choice mom", a person who chooses to be a single mother.
Novelty words making the shortlist were "deleb", meaning a dead celebrity, and "tramp stamp", referring to a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman.
日前，unfriend一詞從衆多技術詞彙中脫穎而出，被《新牛津美語辭典》評爲2009年度潮詞。
Unfriend被定義爲一個動詞，意爲在Facebook等社交網站上與某人解除好友關係。
牛津美語辭典項目的高級詞典編纂人克里斯汀•琳德伯格在一份聲明中說：“這個詞既符合當下的潮流，也有一定的潛在壽命。”
“在網絡社交環境中，這個詞的意思很容易理解，所以將其定義爲現代動詞形式，也是今年年度詞彙評選中一個很有意思的選擇。”
2009年度潮詞的評選工作由《新牛津美語辭典》出版商英國牛津大學出版社開展，其他入圍的詞彙來自經濟、政治、時事和其它科技領域。
和技術相關的詞彙包括hashtag，指的是在一個詞語或短語前加一個#符號，讓“推特”用戶搜索到相關主題文章的功能標籤；intexticated，指的是人們在開車時因發短信而分神；還有sexting，指用手機發送色情短信和圖片。
經濟領域入圍的詞彙包括freemium，意思是免費提供部分基本服務的商業模式；以及funemployed，指的是人們趁着剛失業的時候盡情玩樂或做其它感興趣的事。
政治和時事領域入圍的詞彙有birther，意思是陰謀理論家質疑巴拉克•奧巴馬總統的美國出生證明，以及choice mom，指的是選擇做單身母親的人。
其它入選的新潮詞彙還包括deleb，意爲“已故名人”，和tramp stamp，指的是在腰背部的紋身，通常指女性。
Vocabulary:
finalist: contestant who reaches the final stages of a competition 入圍最後一關的競賽者
SMS: short message service 短消息業務
shortlist: a list of applicants winnowed from a longer list who have been deemed suitable and from which the successful person will be chosen 供最後挑選用的候選者名單
