BBC随身英语:New world, new words 数码时代的新词汇

In the 19th Century, the English poet William Barnes suggested that the word "photograph" should be replaced by "sun print" in order to achieve proper "Englishness". It didn't catch on.

Now the debate about speech and writing is livelier than ever, says Mr Chatfield. He thinks the Digital Revolution is as significant as the Industrial Revolution, and there are many inventions and processes which have to be named.

From text messages and email to chat rooms and video games, technology has over the past few decades brought about an extraordinary new arena of verbal exchange. The controversy is not so much about foreign influence but informality and abbreviation. The Oxford English Dictionary acknowledged in 2011 the use of initials such as "oh my God" (OMG), "laughs out loud" (LOL) and "for your information" (FYI).

We are moving away from spoken words and towards the act of typing on to a screen. We've already grown so used to saying phrases like dotcom out loud that we forget we are speaking punctuation marks. And punctuation took a life of its own with emoticons.

The speed of communication today is matched by the speed with which new words are taken up. Bicycles, automobiles and telephones took decades to become a part of daily life as words and objects. With online offerings, new words are adopted in a matter of months. The verb "to google" has become a part of dozens of languages across the world.

Where habit leads, language follows. Only time will tell what endures. Meanwhile, as a student of the English language, you've got a lot of catching up to do.

Quiz 测验 1. Who wanted the word 'photograph' replaced?

The English poet William Barnes.

2. What are the causes of controversy about English?

Foreign influence, informality, the use of abbreviation, technology and increasing speed of communication.

3. Is this statement true or false? OMG, LOL and FYI were never officially adopted as words in the English language.

False. These expressions were included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.

4. What are symbols like :-) and :-( called?

Emoticons.

5. Which word in the article means "more animated"?

Livelier.

Glossary 词汇表 a neologism一个新词或旧词新意 a native speaker一个说母语的人 a purist语言纯正癖者 to frown upon对某事物表现出不满 Latin拉丁语 proper正式的、规矩的 to catch on开始流行 a text message一个短信 an email一封电子邮件 a chat room一个聊天室 a video game一个电子游戏 informality不拘礼节 abbreviation缩写 OMG (Oh my God)“我的天”的英文缩写 LOL (Laughing out loud)“哈哈大笑”的英文缩写 FYI (For your information)“供参考”的英文缩写 dotcom网站 a punctuation mark一个标点符号 punctuation标点 an emoticon一个表情符 to catch up追赶上