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"Obama" enters English language as a word
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He is calling for change, but US presidential candidate Barack Obama probably didn't think his campaign's theme extended to the English language and US television culture.
"ObamaSpeak" -- encompassed by words such as "obamamentum," "obamabot," "obamacize," "obamaramaand", "obamanation" -- has been the second-most-used catchphrase on U.S. television this past year, topped only by No. 1 word "Beijing" referencing the recent Olympics, according to a study from the Global Language Monitor released on Tuesday.
The Beijing Olympics in August also ushered in Phelpsian -- the No. 5 "teleword" -- coined to describe American swimmer Michael Phelps' feat of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics, the Global Language Monitor said.
Phelps helped boost TV audiences for the Olympics to record figures, including the 31 million people who tuned in on Aug 16 to watch him clinch his 8th gold medal at the Beijing Games.
"This year, two events dominated television -- the Beijing Olympics and the US presidential elections, " said Paul Payack, president of the Texas-based Global Language Monitor which tracks the latest trends in word usage.
The survey measures words used starting in fall 2007 and running to late spring 2008, and is released just as the major broadcast networks are launching their 2008/2009 schedule.
Other popular words and phrases among the top telewords of 2008 were the cliche used frequently by sportsmen and women, "It is what it is" at No. 3; "third screen" at No. 6, as in watching TV on a mobile phone; and No. 7 "vincible" applied to the upset of the seemingly invincible New England Patriots by the New York Giants in the 2008 Superbowl.
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(Agencies)
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美国民主党总统候选人奥巴马可能没想到，他在呼吁“变革”这一竞选主题的同时，也“改变”了英语语言和美国电视文化。
全球语言监控组织于本周二公布的一项研究显示，在过去一年中，“ObamaSpeak”（“奥巴马派生词”）成为美国电视媒体中的第二大高频词，仅次于奥运会举办城市“北京”。由Obama派生出的新词包括“obamamentum”、“obamabot”、“obamacize”、“obamarama”、”obamanation”等。
该机构称，今年八月的北京奥运会还催生了一个新词“Phelpsian”，这个排名第五的电视流行词主要用来形容美国游泳名将菲尔普斯在奥运会上独揽八枚金牌的辉煌战绩。
在菲尔普斯的推动下，收看奥运会的电视观众数创下新纪录，在8月16日这一天，共有3100万观众收看了他夺第八金的比赛。
全球语言监控组织主席保罗•帕亚克说：“今年电视媒体主要关注两件大事，一是北京奥运会，二是美国总统大选。” 全球语言监控组织设在得克萨斯州，主要负责追踪语言使用的最新走势。
这项调查主要涉及从去年秋天至今年春天晚些时候电视中出现的一些词，其结果公布时正值美国各大电视广播媒体公布“08-09年度”节目时间表。
2008年度电视流行语还包括：排在第三位的“It is what it is（就是这样）”，这是运动员常说的一句话；第六位是“the third screen（第三屏幕）”（即在手机上看电视），第七位是“vincible（可战胜的）”，这个词源自2008年的“超级碗”（美国橄榄球联盟赛），在这届比赛中，新英格兰爱国者队打败了貌似“不可战胜（invincible）”的纽约巨人队。
（实习生瞿漫 英语点津姗姗编辑）
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