ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erin McKean - Dictionary editor
As the co-founder of Reverb Technologies, the maker of the online dictionary Wordnik, Erin McKean is reshaping how we interact with language itself.

Why you should listen

Erin McKean's job as a lexicographer involves living in a constant state of research. She searches high and low -- from books to blogs, newspapers to cocktail parties -- for new words, new meanings for old words, or signs that old words have fallen out of use. In June of this year, she involved us all in the search by launching Wordnik, an online dictionary that houses all the traditionally accepted words and definitions, but also asks users to contribute new words and new uses for old words. Wordnik pulls real-time examples of word usage from Twitter, image representations from Flickr along with many more non-traditional, and highly useful, features. 

Before Wordnik, McKean was one of the youngest editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary. She continues to serve as the editor of the language quarterly  Verbatim ("language and linguistics for the layperson since 1974") and is the author of multiple books, including That's Amore and the entire Weird and Wonderful Words series. All that, and she maintains multiple blogs, too: McKean is the keen observationalist behind A Dress a Day and Dictionary Evangelist. Is there anything she can't do? Surprisingly, she is notoriously bad at Scrabble.  

 

 

More profile about the speaker
Erin McKean | Speaker | TED.com
TEDYouth 2014

Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!

艾琳•麦基恩: 大胆的创造新单词

Filmed:
1,936,780 views

这个TEDYouth里短小有趣的演讲中,词典编纂者艾琳•麦基恩鼓励,不,带头鼓励她的观众在发现现有词不够用时,去创造新词。她列举了英语中6种造词的方法,从组合法到动词化法,就是为了让我们更好地用语言表达自己的意思,以及创造更多地方式让我们能互相理解。
- Dictionary editor
As the co-founder of Reverb Technologies, the maker of the online dictionary Wordnik, Erin McKean is reshaping how we interact with language itself. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I'm a lexicographer词典编纂者.
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我是一个词典编纂者
00:13
I make dictionaries字典.
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我的工作是编词典
00:15
And my job工作 as a lexicographer词典编纂者
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而我作为一个词典编纂者,所要做的
00:17
is to try to put all the words possible可能
into the dictionary字典.
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就是尽可能的把所有的词语都加入到词典里边去
00:20
My job工作 is not to decide决定 what a word is;
that is your job工作.
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我不是来决定怎样的词算是一个词语
那些事是你们来决定的
00:26
Everybody每个人 who speaks说话 English英语
decides决定 together一起
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每个讲英语的人一起决定
00:29
what's a word and what's not a word.
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怎样算一个词怎样不算一个词
00:32
Every一切 language语言 is just a group of people
who agree同意 to understand理解 each other.
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在每一种语言里就这么一帮人
同意理解对方
00:37
Now, sometimes有时 when people are trying
to decide决定 whether是否 a word is good or bad,
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有时候当人们决定一个词的褒贬的时候
00:41
they don't really have a good reason原因.
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他们并没有给出很好的理由
00:43
So they say something like,
"Because grammar语法!"
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所以他们经常说:
“因为这是语法规定的!”
00:46
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
00:48
I don't actually其实 really care关心 about grammar语法
too much -- don't tell anybody任何人.
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我并不太在乎语法...
可别告诉人
00:52
But the word "grammar语法," actually其实,
there are two kinds of grammar语法.
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但是“语法”这个词,实际上有两种语法
00:55
There's the kind of grammar语法
that lives生活 inside your brain,
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一种是在你脑子固定形成的语法
00:58
and if you're a native本地人
speaker扬声器 of a language语言
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如果你以某一语言为母语
01:00
or a good speaker扬声器 of a language语言,
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或者你能流利地说某种语言
01:02
it's the unconscious无意识 rules规则 that you follow跟随
when you speak说话 that language语言.
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是你在说那种语言时
所遵循的潜规则
01:05
And this is what you learn学习 when
you learn学习 a language语言 as a child儿童.
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这是你还是小孩子的时候学到规则
01:08
And here's这里的 an example:
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这有一个例子
01:10
This is a wugWUG, right?
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这是个 WUG,对吧?
01:11
It's a wugWUG.
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这是个 WUG
01:13
Now there is another另一个 one.
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现在又有一个(wug)
01:15
There are two of these.
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那么这有两个这样的东西
01:16
There are two ...
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有两个....
01:17
Audience听众: Wugs用水小组.
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观众:Wugs
01:19
Erin艾琳 McKean麦基恩: Exactly究竟! You know
how to make the plural复数 of wugWUG.
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Erin Mckean: 没错!你们知道如何用wug的复数了
01:22
That rule规则 lives生活 in your brain.
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那是你们脑子里固定形成的规则
01:24
You never had to be taught this rule规则,
you just understand理解 it.
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你从来没有被教过怎么用复数形式
你只是明白它的用法
01:27
This is an experiment实验 that was invented发明
by a professor教授 at [Boston波士顿 University大学]
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这是在1958年一个叫
Jean Berko Gleason的
01:30
named命名 Jean吉恩 BerkoBERKO Gleason格里森 back in 1958.
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波士顿大学教授发明的一个实验
01:34
So we've我们已经 been talking about this
for a long time.
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所以我们已经讨论了这事情很久了
01:37
Now, these kinds of natural自然 rules规则
that exist存在 in your brain,
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那么,这些在你脑子里形成的自然规则
01:40
they're not like traffic交通 laws法律,
they're more like laws法律 of nature性质.
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他们不像交通规则
他们更像是自然法则
01:44
And nobody没有人 has to remind提醒 you to obey遵守
a law of nature性质, right?
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你不需要任何人提醒你去遵守自然法则,对吧?
01:48
When you leave离开 the house in the morning早上,
your mom妈妈 doesn't say,
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你早上出门的时候
你妈妈不会说,
01:51
"Hey, honey蜜糖, I think
it's going to be cold, take a hoodie连帽衫,
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“嘿,亲爱的
今天天冷穿件外套吧
01:53
don't forget忘记 to obey遵守 the law of gravity重力."
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别忘了遵循万有引力哦”
01:56
Nobody没有人 says this.
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没人这么说
01:58
Now, there are other rules规则 that are more
about manners礼貌 than they are about nature性质.
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而另外的一些规则更注重使用方法而非词本身
02:05
So you can think of a word as like a hat帽子.
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你可以把一个词想象成一顶帽子
02:08
Once一旦 you know how hats帽子 work,
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一旦你知道怎么戴帽子
02:10
nobody没有人 has to tell you,
"Don't wear穿 hats帽子 on your feet."
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没人会告诉你
“别往脚上穿啊”
02:13
What they have to tell you is,
"Can you wear穿 hats帽子 inside?
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他们要告诉你的是
“你能在室内戴帽子么?
02:16
Who gets得到 to wear穿 a hat帽子?
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谁能戴帽子?
02:18
What are the kinds of hats帽子
you get to wear穿?"
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能戴怎么样的帽子“
02:21
Those are more of the second第二 kind
of grammar语法,
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这些更像第二类语法
02:23
which哪一个 linguists语言学家 often经常 call usage用法,
as opposed反对 to grammar语法.
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语言学家常说的用法,与语法相反
02:28
Now, sometimes有时 people use this kind of
rules-based规则为基础 grammar语法
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有时候人们以规则型的语法
02:32
to discourage不鼓励 people from making制造 up words.
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来阻止人们造新词
02:35
And I think that is, well, stupid.
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我觉得,这个挺愚蠢的
02:37
So, for example,
people are always telling告诉 you,
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比方说,人们总是告诉你
02:40
"Be creative创作的, make new music音乐, do art艺术,
invent发明 things, science科学 and technology技术."
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“要有创造力,编新的音乐
创作艺术,发明新的科技
02:46
But when it comes to
words, they're like,
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但是在对待词语的时候
02:48
"Don't! No. Creativity创造力 stops停止 right here,
whippersnappers新新人类. Give it a rest休息."
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”停!你的创意到此为止
你们这些自以为是的年轻人,一边凉快去“
02:53
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
02:54
But that makes品牌 no sense to me.
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但是在我看来这说不通
02:56
Words are great.
We should have more of them.
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词语棒极了
我们应该有更多的词语
02:58
I want you to make
as many许多 new words as possible可能.
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我要你们尽可能的创造出更多的新词
03:02
And I'm going to tell you six ways方法 that
you can use to make new words in English英语.
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而且我将告诉你们六种造新词的方法
03:07
The first way is the simplest简单 way.
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第一种最简单
03:09
Basically基本上, steal them from other
languages语言.
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其实就是从另一种语言里偷过来
03:11
["Go rob other people"]
(Laughter笑声)
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[”抢别人的去“]
(笑)
03:15
Linguists语言学家 call this borrowing借款,
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语言学家称之为外来词(借词)
03:17
but we never give the words back ,
so I'm just going to be honest诚实
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但是我们从来不把外来词还回去
所以我要老实和你们讲
03:20
and call it stealing偷窃行为.
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称它为偷来的词
03:22
We usually平时 take words for things
that we like, like delicious美味的 food餐饮.
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我们通常把我们喜欢的东西的那些词”偷“来
比如好吃的食物
03:26
We took "kumquat金橘" from Chinese中文,
we took "caramel焦糖" from French法国.
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我们从中文那拿了”Kumquat“(金橘)
从法语那拿了”caramel“(焦糖)
03:29
We also take words
for cool things like "ninja忍者," right?
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我们也把很酷的东西的词借来
比如说”忍者“,对吧
03:32
We took that from Japanese日本,
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我们把它从日语那借了过来
03:34
which哪一个 is kind of a cool trick because
ninjas忍者 are hard to steal from.
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这招挺酷的因为忍者很难偷
03:37
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
03:39
So another另一个 way that you
can make words in English英语
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那么另一种在英语中造词的方法
03:42
is by squishing压扁 two
other English英语 words together一起.
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就是把两个英语单词合成一个词
03:45
This is called compounding复利.
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称之为复合法
03:47
Words in English英语 are like Lego乐高玩具:
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英语单词就像乐高
03:49
If you use enough足够 force,
you can put any two of them together一起.
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如果我们使足劲
就能把任意两个词合成一个
03:52
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
03:54
We do this all the time in English英语:
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我们经常这么做
03:56
Words like "heartbroken肠断," "bookworm书呆子,"
"sandcastle沙塔" all are compounds化合物.
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比如 “心碎”,“书虫”,“沙城”都是复合词
04:02
So go ahead and make words like
"duckfaceduckface," just don't make duckfaceduckface.
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所以去造些像“duckface”的词
只要不在自拍的时候做鸭脸就好
04:05
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
04:07
Another另一个 way that you can make words
in English英语 is kind of like compounding复利,
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另一种方法有点像复合法
04:11
but instead代替 you use so much force
when you squish果酱 the words together一起
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不过不同的是你把两个词“挤”成一个词时太用劲
词的一部分掉了下来
04:16
that some parts部分 fall秋季 off.
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04:18
So these are blend混合 words,
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这些就是并缀词
04:20
like "brunch早午餐" is a blend混合
of "breakfast早餐" and "lunch午餐."
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比如 “早午餐”是早餐和午餐的并缀
04:24
"Motel汽车旅馆" is a blend混合 of "motor发动机" and "hotel旅馆."
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“汽车旅馆”是“汽车”和“旅馆”的并缀
04:26
Who here knew知道 that "motel汽车旅馆"
was a blend混合 word?
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谁在这知道“汽车旅馆”是个并缀词?
04:29
Yeah, that word is so old in English英语
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对吧,这个词在英语里太久了
04:31
that lots of people don't know that
there are parts部分 missing失踪.
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很多人都不知道这个词的一部分消失了
04:34
"Edutainment寓教于乐" is a blend混合
of "education教育" and "entertainment娱乐."
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”娱教“是”教育“和”娱乐“的并缀
04:38
And of course课程, "electrocute触电" is a
blend混合 of "electric电动" and "execute执行."
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当然还有,“触电”是“电”和“处决”的并缀
04:44
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
04:46
You can also make words
by changing改变 how they operate操作.
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你也可以改变一个词的词性来造新词
04:49
This is called functional实用 shift转移.
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这称为功能转换
04:50
You take a word that acts行为
as one part部分 of speech言语,
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你把一个词在这句话里的词性
04:53
and you change更改 it into another另一个
part部分 of speech言语.
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在另一句话里换成另一种词性
04:55
Okay, who here knew知道 that "friend朋友"
hasn't有没有 always been a verb动词?
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那好,有谁知道“朋友”这个词并不一直是个动词
05:00
"Friend朋友" used to be noun名词
and then we verbedverbed it.
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“朋友” 曾是个名词然后我们把它变动词了
05:05
Almost几乎 any word in English英语 can be verbedverbed.
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几乎所有的英语单词都能够变为动词
05:08
You can also take adjectives形容词
and make them into nouns名词.
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你也可以把形容词变为名词
05:10
"Commercial广告" used to be an adjective形容词
and now it's a noun名词.
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“commercial”(商业的)曾是个形容词
想在成了个名词(广告)
05:14
And of course课程, you can "green绿色" things.
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当然了,你还可以把它“绿化”了
05:17
Another另一个 way to make words
in English英语 is back-formation背形成.
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另一种方法是“逆成法”
05:20
You can take a word and you can
kind of squish果酱 it down a little bit.
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你可以把一个词缩短
05:23
So for example, in English英语 we had the word
"editor编辑" before we had the word "edit编辑."
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比如说,英语里“edit”(编辑)一词出现前
我们只有“editor”(编者)
05:28
"Edit编辑" was formed形成 from "editor编辑."
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“edit”是从“editor”变过来的
05:30
Sometimes有时 these back-formations背编队
sound声音 a little silly愚蠢:
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有时候“逆成法”听上去挺可笑
05:33
Bulldozers推土机 bulldoze强行, butlers管家 butlebutle
and burglersburglers burgle行窃.
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推土机推土,管家看家,窃贼行窃
05:37
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
05:39
Another另一个 way to make words in English英语
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另一种造词法
05:41
is to take the first letters of something
and squish果酱 them together一起.
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就是把某样东西的首字母拼在一起
05:44
So National国民 Aeronautics航空学 and Space空间
Administration行政 becomes NASANASA.
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所以美国国家航空航天局变成NASA
05:47
And of course课程 you can do this
with anything, OMG我的天啊!
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当然了什么词你都可以这么用,我的天!
05:50
So it doesn't matter how silly愚蠢
the words are.
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所以这些词语多么可笑都无所谓
(臭虫赛车障碍)
05:56
They can be really good words of English英语.
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他们能成为很棒的英语单词
05:58
"Absquatulate开小差" is a perfectly完美
good word of English英语.
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“Absquatulate"是个好词
06:02
"MugwumpMugwump" is a perfectly完美
good word of English英语.
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“Mugwump”是一个很正常的英语词
06:05
So the words don't have have to sound声音
normal正常, they can sound声音 really silly愚蠢.
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所以这些词不用听上去正确
它们可以听上去很可笑
06:10
Why should you make words?
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为什么你要编词呢?
06:12
You should make words because every一切 word
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你应该编词因为每个新编的词
06:14
is a chance机会 to express表现 your idea理念 and get
your meaning含义 across横过.
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是给你表达并传递你的意思的一个机会
06:18
And new words grab people's人们 attention注意.
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而且新词更受人关注
06:21
They get people to focus焦点 on what
you're saying
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它让人们更专注于你在说什么
06:24
and that gives you a better chance机会 to get
your meaning含义 across横过.
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这给你一个更好的机会表达你的意思
06:27
A lot of people
on this stage阶段 today今天 have said,
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很多人在在这阶段说过
06:30
"In the future未来, you can do this,
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未来,你可以做这
06:31
you can help with this, you can
help us explore探索, you can help us invent发明."
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你可以帮助我们,帮助我们研究和发明
你可以马上创造新词
06:35
You can make a new word right now.
129
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1629
06:37
English英语 has no age年龄 limit限制.
130
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英语没有年龄限制
06:39
Go ahead, start开始 making制造 words today今天,
131
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从今天起创造新单词
06:41
send发送 them to me, and I will put them
in my online线上 dictionary字典, WordnikWordnik.
132
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把它们寄给我
然后我会把它们放进我的网上词典Wordnik里边
06:45
Thank you so much.
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谢谢大家
06:46
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Jack Qiu
Reviewed by Lee Li

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erin McKean - Dictionary editor
As the co-founder of Reverb Technologies, the maker of the online dictionary Wordnik, Erin McKean is reshaping how we interact with language itself.

Why you should listen

Erin McKean's job as a lexicographer involves living in a constant state of research. She searches high and low -- from books to blogs, newspapers to cocktail parties -- for new words, new meanings for old words, or signs that old words have fallen out of use. In June of this year, she involved us all in the search by launching Wordnik, an online dictionary that houses all the traditionally accepted words and definitions, but also asks users to contribute new words and new uses for old words. Wordnik pulls real-time examples of word usage from Twitter, image representations from Flickr along with many more non-traditional, and highly useful, features. 

Before Wordnik, McKean was one of the youngest editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary. She continues to serve as the editor of the language quarterly  Verbatim ("language and linguistics for the layperson since 1974") and is the author of multiple books, including That's Amore and the entire Weird and Wonderful Words series. All that, and she maintains multiple blogs, too: McKean is the keen observationalist behind A Dress a Day and Dictionary Evangelist. Is there anything she can't do? Surprisingly, she is notoriously bad at Scrabble.  

 

 

More profile about the speaker
Erin McKean | Speaker | TED.com