"Stay the course" named top catch phrase of 2006

President Bush speaks during a news conference in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington December 20, 2006.

　　"Stay the course," the phrase dropped by Bush administration as it searched for a new policy in Iraq, was declared the catch phrase of the year on last Thursday by language use group Global Language Monitor.

　　"It makes number one because it was declared inoperative," said Global Language monitor President Paul JJ Payack.

　　In second place was the ill-fated book title. "If I Did it" by O.J. Simpson. The idea of O.J. Simpson telling how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend if he had actually murdered them outraged so many people that it was withdrawn. But the phrase was an immediate winner in the language.

　　Simpson was found not guilty of the murders in a criminal trial but held liable the deaths in a civil proceeding.

　　In third place was a series of emotion icons used in E-mail and text messages: "# - )" which Payack said meant "wasted." In fourth was "Airline Pulp," a Chinese/English hybrid way of describing food served aboard an airliner.

　　Serial Texter was fifth, denoting the widespread use of text messages among the world's youth.

　　全球语言监控机构上周四公布，布什政府在宣布所谓对伊新政策时所用的stay the course（坚持到底）一词当选为2006年的第一流行语。

　　全球语言监控机构总裁鲍尔·JJ·佩雅克说：“这一说法之所以排在第一位，主要是因为它实际上是句废话。”

　　排名第二的是O·J·辛普森（前著名美式橄榄球明星）那本注定遭恶运的书的名字If I did it（《如果我做了》）。辛普森在书中以一种假设的口吻叙述了他杀害前妻及其男友的经过。这本书因引发众怒而遭封杀，但书名If I did it却成了句流行语。

　　当年，涉嫌杀妻的辛普森在刑事审判中被判无罪，而仅在民事诉讼中被判定为对两人的死亡负有责任。

　　位居第三的是电子邮件和短信中常用到的一串符号“# - )”，佩雅克说它的意思是“喝醉了的”。排名第四的是中英合成词Airline Pulp，指的是“飞机上的餐点”。

　　Serial Texter（连环短信王）位居第五，反映了当下世界各地的年轻人爱发短信的流行时尚。

　　Vocabulary:

　　catch phrase : a phrase or an expression in wide or popular use, especially one serving as a slogan for a group or movement（流行语）

　　civil proceeding : 民事诉讼

来源：英语点津