Урок №55. Words you do not find in a dictionary. Part I

Урок №55. Words you do not find in a dictionary. Part I

Язык как живой организм, он развивается и живет своей жизнью, адаптируясь под новые реалии — что-то в нем исчезает, что-то появляется новое. Сегодня поговорим как раз о новом ‑ неологизмах в деловой речи, которые включаются в словари после того, как войдут в широкий обиход.

A neologism ([ni:’ɔlədʒiz(ə)m]) is a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often created by combining existing words or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. They can also be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words or simply through playing with sounds. Neologisms can become popular through memetics (меметика — совокупность знаний о мемах, единицах передачи культурной информации, распространяемая от одного человека к другому посредством имитации, научения и др.) by way of mass media, the Internet, and word of mouth.

Popular examples of neologism can be found in science, fiction, branding, literature, linguistic and popular culture. Here are some examples for business communication:

1. to troll

to write negative or provocative comments on a website in order to deliberately cause others to react in a particular way

Also: trolling, troll or troller

Example

Victims of anonymous trolls on Twitter and other social media may soon have the power to discover their tormentors’ identities, thanks to a new law. But what»s the difference between a troll and somebody who just has very bad manners? (The Guardian, 2012)

2. crowdfunding

the activity of getting a large group of people to finance a particular project, especially by using a website where people can make contributions

Also: to crowdfund, crowdfunder

Example:

If you grew up playing computer games in the early eighties, you will know Elite, the legendary space trading simulation written by two Cambridge university students, David Braben and Ian Bell. Now, Braben has announced that his studio, Frontier Developments, is working on a new title in the series, and is looking to raise £1.25m on the crowd-funding site, Kickstarter, to make it happen. (The Guardian, 2012)

3. wave and pay

a system of paying for goods or services by moving a credit card or mobile phone in front of a special machine which automatically reads the information

Example:

Visa»s hopes of making the Olympics the real beginning of the contactless revolution appear to have fallen flat, with the card provider revealing that only 150,000 payments in the Games venues were made using wave and pay technology. (The Guardian, 2012)

4. copyleft (noun and verb)

a copyright (=the legal right to have control over the work of a writer, musician, artist, etc) statement which gives any person or group the permission to freely use and/or modify a piece of work without the need for payment

Example:

Like most ’60s countercultural ideals, the free circulation of intellectual property was hopelessly unrealistic. Anybody could easily steal a collective project by taking out a copyright. For this reason, collaboratively designed open-source software didn»t stand a chance until master hacker Richard Stallman counteracted copyright with copyleft. A copyleft license blocks profiteers from copyrighting collaborative software by preemptively copyright-protecting it, and contractually allowing people to freely use and modify it only if they agree to pass on the freedoms given to them. Copyleft does not only describe an ideal, but has made it real. (The Washington Post, 2010)

5. meme [ˈmiːm]also Internet meme

a concept or idea that spreads very quickly via the Internet

Example:

It»s almost as if President Obama wants the internet to make a meme out of him in the final week of the election. After dialing a wrong number while making calls from a campaign field office in Florida on Sunday, Obama turned to AP photographer Pablo Martinez Monsavis and made this sort-of-smug, sort-of-sassy face. And now, many bloggers and social media users are calling it the best photo of the president, ever. (The Washington Post, 2012)

Exercise

Fill in the gaps with the neologisms you met above

1. spread very quickly.

2. The only way to deal with is to ignore him, or take away his ability to post online.

3. websites can help you find a community of small investors to fund your business, without the risks of traditional financing.

4. Last year Starbucks launched a application allowing customers to buy coffee in some 6,800 of its stores, which is the first big pay-by-phone initiative in the U.S.

5. software is free software whose distribution terms ensure that all copies of all versions carry more or less the same distribution terms.

Анна Печерная