牛津英語(yǔ)在線字典在最新公布的季度新詞詞庫(kù)中收錄了表示性感“電臀舞”的“twerking”一詞。字典編纂方表示,在過(guò)去12個(gè)月當(dāng)中,美國(guó)流行歌手麥莉?賽勒斯憑借“電臀舞”順利躥升至排行榜首位,同時(shí)也讓這個(gè)詞被更多人熟知。他們指出,雖然很多讀者第一次知道這個(gè)詞是通過(guò)麥莉?賽勒斯在本屆MTV頒獎(jiǎng)典禮上的性感熱舞,但這個(gè)詞其實(shí)已經(jīng)存在了20年之久。關(guān)于這個(gè)詞的起源有許多說(shuō)法,但因?yàn)檫@個(gè)詞最先是在口語(yǔ)中產(chǎn)生的,所以無(wú)法確定其真正的起源,最有可能是“twist”或“twitch”與“work”一詞融合后的變形。此次更新的詞庫(kù)中還收錄了“selfie”(自拍)、“digital detox”(數(shù)字戒毒期),以及“Bitcoin”(比特幣)。
Singer Miley Cyrus performs "We Can't Stop" during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards in New York August 25, 2013.[Photo/Agencies] |
Twerking, the rump-busting up-and-down dance move long beloved on America's hip-hop scene, has officially gone mainstream. It's got the English dictionary entry to prove it.
Britain's Oxford Dictionaries said the rapid-fire gyrations employed by US pop starlet Miley Cyrus to bounce her way to the top of the charts had become increasingly visible in the past 12 months and would be added to its publications under the entry: "Twerk, verb."
Although Cyrus's eye-popping moves at Monday's MTV Video Music Awards may have been many viewers' first introduction to the practice, Oxford Dictionaries' Katherine Connor Martin said "twerking" was some two decades old.
"There are many theories about the origin of this word, and since it arose in oral use, we may never know the answer for sure," Martin said. "We think the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to 'work it.' The 't' could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch."
"Twerk" will be added to the dictionary as part of its quarterly update, which includes words such as "selfie," the word typically used to describe pouty smartphone self-portraits, "digital detox" for time spent away from Facebook and Twitter, and "Bitcoin," for the nationless electronic currency whose gyrations have also caught the world's eye.
Oxford Dictionaries is responsible for a range of reference works, including Oxford Dictionaries Online, which focuses on modern usage, and the historically-focused Oxford English Dictionary, which probably won't be adding "twerk" to its venerable pages any time soon.
The definition: "Twerk, v.: dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."
(Agencies)
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