根據法新社 (AFP) 8月14日的一篇報導，最新版(11版)的「錢伯斯辭典」(Chambers Dictionary)已增加數百個新字新詞。筆者看完這篇報導後發現，其中多個新字新詞早已被「網路翻譯家」所收錄，並附有中文解釋，包括 carbon footprint (碳足跡)、electrosmog (電子煙霧)、wardrobe malfunction (衣著穿梆)、comfort food (以古法烹調，旨在引發思古幽情及懷舊的食物)。此外，像 credit crunch (信用緊縮)、Blu-ray (藍光 — 最新的DVD技術。注意Blu的拼字，沒有e)、quantum computer (量子電腦 — 使用量子力學quantum mechanics的電腦)等新字新詞，亦成為該字典的新詞條(new entries)。以下就是法新社的報導：
Credit crunch, carbon footprint and electrosmog squeezed into Chambers dictionary Thursday, reflecting the world’s belt-tightening and ecologically-worried times, its editor said.
More prosaically, "wardrobe malfunction," "comfort food" and "nail bars" were also among a raft of new words and expressions included in the latest print edition of a lexicographical tome.
The war on terror has brought "blue-on-blue" — "accidental firing on one’s allies" — as well as "IED" (improvised explosive device) and "extraordinary rendition" into the Chambers-defined language
But economic worries and climate change concerns generate a lot of new terms.
The global credit crunch, defined as "a sudden and drastic reduction in the availability of credit," has helped tip long-booming Britain to the brink of recession in barely 12 months.
Homeowners facing falling property prices for the first time in a decade are also all too familiar with "Hips" — Home Information Pacs, a new officially-required document blamed with adding red tape and deterring buyers.
Hips in part aim to make houses more environmentally friendly — a trend also reflected in "carbon footprint" and "eco-village" — "a small-scale, environmentally friendly settlement designed for sustainable living."
"Electrosmog" — electro-magnetic fields emitted by computers and mobile phones — also adds growing environmental threats in the modern world.
On the scientific front "Blu-ray" — as in the new DVD technology — and "quantum computer" (one which uses quantum mechanics) joined hundreds of new entries deemed worth of definition
Meanwhile "Wags" — "a wife or girlfriend of a professional sportsman, especially one of group accompanying a travelling team" — received Chambers’ thumbs-up.
The dictionary also accepted "wardrobe malfunction" — "the temporary failure of an item of clothing to do its job in covering a part of the body that it would be advisable to keep covered" — as part of common language.
"The new words we added to this 11th edition of The Chambers Dictionary paint a vivid picture of current interests and concerns," said its editor-in-chief Mary O’Neill.
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