You probably haven’t heard anyone use it this year – or possibly ever. But tergiversate is the word of 2011. Apparently.
也許你在今年甚至以前從未聽到過這個詞,但毋庸置疑,搪塞是2011年的年度風云詞匯。
Pronounced 'ter-jiv-er-sate', it means ‘to change repeatedly one’s attitude or opinions with respect to a cause or subject’.
搪塞,英文發音為'ter-jiv-er-sate',意思是某人就某個事件的原因和動機不斷改變自己的態度和看法。
Dictionary.com editors chose the word, which is associated with rapidly changing situations, because it was so fitting of our times of political and economic upheaval. Dictionary.com
網站的編輯們選擇了這個與情況快速變化息息相關的單詞,因為,用它來描述當今時代政治和經濟的動蕩是最合適不過的了。
Jay Schwartz, the website’s head of content, said: ‘We think that it’s immensely rewarding to find existing words that capture a precise experience, and this year tumult has been the norm rather than the exception.
該網站的負責人杰伊施瓦茨表示:“發現已存在的詞語能捕捉到一種特定的感受是非常有意義的。并且今年,騷亂已不再是特例而是習以為常的事情了。”
‘There are contested public spaces around the world, where people are demonstrating in one direction or another. Opinions and circumstances have been oscillating so much.
“世界各地隨處可見示威游行的人群聚集在公眾場合,而輿論和環境無時無刻不在變化著。”
‘This word encompasses a sense of “flip-flopping” but it also implies a number of other complicating forces.
“這個單詞包含著一種立場搖移之感,但是同時,它也暗示了許多其他復雜的涵義。”
‘Unlike flip-flop, tergiversate suggests a lack of intentionality – it’s a change in state more out of necessity, as new events happen at great speed.’
“與立場動搖不同的是,搪塞暗含著一種意向性的缺乏----正如新事物快速發展一樣,它是一項必要的改變。”
Tergiversate, which dates back to 1645, edged out several other words related to ongoing economic troubles, including austerity, occupy, and jobs.
搪塞這個可以追溯到1645年的單詞戰勝了一些與當下經濟困境相關的詞語成為了年度最熱門詞匯,包括緊縮,占領以及工作。
The word is derived from the Latin term Tergiversor’, meaning ‘to turn one’s back, make excuses’ - something anybody who has been following the euro fiasco will be familiar with.
它源自拉丁單詞Tergiversor,意思是“尋找借口,背棄某人”,關于這點,相信凡是了解歐元失敗的人都不會感到陌生。
Occupy had also been suggested, in homage to the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York that spread to cities across the globe
也有人提議占領這個詞,向席卷全球的紐約占領華爾街抗議表示敬意。
Although it is not commonly used, it was deployed by The Times in a report in August on the stock market.
盡管并不常用,但泰晤士報在八月的一篇關于股票市場的報告中使用了該詞。
BBC reporter Denis Dedej also used it in a Mary 2010 article on Albanian politics.
BBC的記者丹尼斯也在2010年五月份的阿爾巴尼亞政治報中的一篇文章中應用過。
Others which did not quite make the cut were ‘insidious’, meaning stealthily treacherous or deceitful - a damning judgment the past 12 months.
其他的還不夠資格的詞匯有“insidious”—狡詐的,意思是暗地里背叛或者欺騙,這正是對過去的12個月的譴責。
Equally bleak but more bizarre was ‘zugzwang’, a chess term in which a player is limited to moves that cost pieces or have a damaging positional effect.
同樣被擠掉的一個更奇怪的詞語是“zugzwang”—迫移,這個國際象棋中的術語指一名棋手無論怎樣出招都只有消極后果,但迫于規則不得不出招。
Last year’s word of the year was ‘change’, partly because it was a pun on coins and the world becoming a different place.
去年的年度詞匯是“change”—變化,一部分原因它是一個雙關語,一方面指代錢幣,另一方面表示世界正在改變。