Name: 「自拍」─牛津辭典的2013年度詞彙！ "Selfie" is Oxford's Word for 2013
Uploaded: 2013-12-05T13:03:13.000Z
Duration: 3 min 7 s

Every year, the editors of Oxford Dictionaries name their Word of the Year.

每年，牛津字典的編輯群都會選出年度風雲字

程度副詞

usually with a smartphone and usually uploaded to the Internet with an ironic hashtag

通常是用智慧型手機拍攝，而且常會上傳到網路上再標上好笑的標籤

and all too often it’s taken with a duckface

而且有很多自拍照都是嘟嘴的照片

According to a statement on the Oxford Dictionaries’ blog

they choose words that aren’t necessarily new

他們選的字不一定是最新的字彙

but that assert some kind of prominence in society

但是這個字可以顯示出某種社會新興的趨勢

The word selfie has been traced as far back as 2002

「selfie 自拍」最早出現在 2002 年

but it’s grown more than 17,000 percent this year alone

但它的使用率光是今年就成長了 17,000%

The statement goes on to say about selfie

If it’s good enough for the Obamas and the Pope

如果連歐巴馬總統和教宗都自拍

then it’s good enough for Word of the Year

那麼 selfie 絕對有資格成為 2013 年度風雲字

Another word they considered was binge-watch

編輯群考慮的另一個字是 binge-watch

the practice of watching a million episodes of a TV 
 show in a row through a smart device

意思就是「使用智慧型裝置連續觀看多部影集或電視節目的行為」

a word that refers to the practice of going 
 to a store to check out items

and then going home to buy them online for less money

然後回家上網網購以獲得較低售價的行為

這也因此造成許多店家經營不善

另外一個年度風雲字的候選人是 twerk（煽情電臀舞）

That’s all I’m going to say about that.

我對這個字的解釋就只有這麼多

Those words are all overused enough to qualify

這些字彙都被廣泛使用，讓它們有資格成為年度風雲字

but Oxford really wanted to choose a word that 
 truly reflected the state of our present culture

但是牛津字典非常想選出能真實反應出當代文化現況的字

because it genuinely captures how self-obsessed we’re all becoming

因為這個字如實捕捉了現代人變得多麼的自我中心

We’ve all got Facebook pages for our hobbies

where we ask our friends and families to give us money

在 Kickstarters 網站，我們向朋友或家人要求資助

for whatever we feel like doing besides working for someone else

任何我們喜歡做的事，除了替某人工作之外

The Internet is conditioning us all to believe how important we are

網路世界讓我們深信自己的重要性

我們也因此將注意力轉而集中在自己身上

We’re now more concerned with our profile pictures

我們現在對自己的大頭貼照關心的程度

than with what’s going on in the world around us

更甚於周遭世界所發生的任何事

Oxford crystallized this point by choosing the word selfie

牛津字典藉由選出年度風雲字 selfie 來精闢的點出這個看法

So maybe we can use this as a learning opportunity

所以，也許我們可以把這個年度風雲字當成學習的機會

藉以打開雙眼面對自己自私的行為

Maybe we can start pointing our cameras at other things than ourselves

也許我們可以開始將相機對著周遭的其他事物，而不是對著自己

Maybe we can start pointing them at worthwhile causes

that need attention or natural beauty or social injustices

需要社會大眾關注且更有價值的議題、或是對著大自然的美景、或是社會的不公不義

and strive to make unselfie the word for 2014

努力試著讓 unselfie 變成 2014年的年度風雲字

Or if that’s too much to ask of society

如果這樣對社會大眾來說還是要求太高的話

then maybe we can just strive for a little less duckface

那麼我們先嘗試不要拍那麼多的嘟嘴自拍照

Tonight, let’s talk about that by following me on Twitter at The Resident

今晚，在 The Resident 的 Twitter 上追蹤我的發文，讓我們進一步討論這個議題