 | | Students in J.E.B. Stuart High School's journalism course discuss the use of and issues surrounding "Sept. 11 slang." |
Their bedrooms are "ground zero." Translation? A total mess.
A mean teacher? He's "such a terrorist."
A student is disciplined? "It was total jihad."
Petty concerns? "That's so Sept. 10." And out-of-style clothes? "Is that a burqa?"It's just six months since Sept. 11, but that's enough time for the vocabulary of one of the country's most frightening days to become slang for teenagers of all backgrounds, comic relief in school hallways and hangouts. It's like, 'Your Mama, Osama,' as an insult. If you're weird, people might call you 'Taliban' or ask if you have anthrax". Language has always been as malleable and erratic as the day's headlines, and young people have always been some of the most innovative and playful in linking world events to their daily vernacular. Teenagers breeze through such expressions as "He's as hard to find as bin Laden," or "emo" to describe people who are very emotional about Sept. 11. Girls might say a boy is "firefighter cute" instead of the more common "hottie." "We're able to make jokes and aren't as overly sensitive as before," said Jonathan Raviv, a senior school student. "You don't want to offend anyone. But sometimes it's a little insensitive, and that's the nature of the joke." However, teachers worry that such slang could cross the line between funny and offensive. "When you have adolescent bravado and nothing can hurt you, underneath that is really a tremendous fear that everything can hurt you," said Alan Lipman, executive director of the Center at Georgetown for the Study of Violence. "They are trying to joke around, which takes the air out of it." Slang has always bubbled to the surface during crisis points. Some fades quickly, but some becomes a part of the national lexicon. And young people are comfortable being sassy sooner than adults are--think "going postal" or "nuke 'em." (Agencies) | 臥室是"世貿廢墟（Ground Zero）"，因為太臟太亂；嚴厲的老師是"恐怖頭子(terrorist)"；學生受到老師處分是遭到"圣戰攻擊(jihad)"；根本不值得一提的事情被稱為"That's so Sept.10"；那么過了時的服飾是什么呢？對了，"burga (阿富汗塔利班統治時期強制婦女穿的一種能將全身上下都罩住的大布衫，只留下眼睛和鼻子一小塊地方可以暴露于外)"。這就是目前在美國青少年中頗為流行的帶有"恐怖幽默"的"9·11俚語"。 "9·11"雖然才剛剛過去了半年，但是在那個恐怖事件中產生的詞匯很快發展成為校園俚語，在美國青少年中風靡起來。在學校的走廊上和學生宿舍里時時可以聽到這些不乏幽默色彩的"9·11俚語"。 例如"你媽的，奧薩馬 (Your Mama, Osama)"就是最新的罵人的話。如果一個人很怪異或是神神秘秘的，人們可能會叫他"塔利班 (Taliban)"，或者問他"是不是感染炭疽了"（if you have anthrax）。 語言就像每天報紙的新聞標題一樣，在不斷發展和變化，而孩子們總會將世界上發生的事情和他們的生活中的語言聯系起來，加以創新，變成戲謔的話。 青少年們還會開玩笑說："他就像本·拉登那樣難找 （He's as hard to find as bin Laden）"；或者形容那些對9·11事件過分敏感的人為"emo（英文單詞emotional的縮寫）"。從前女孩子們經常用"hottie"來稱呼十分受歡迎的男孩子，而現在則用"像消防隊員一樣可愛 （firefighter cute）"這樣的詞匯來形容他們了。 一名名叫喬納森·拉維夫的高中生說："我們現在不再像以前那樣敏感，開不起玩笑了。其實我們開玩笑的時候并不想冒犯任何人。但是有的時候還是會無意之中冒犯了別人，不過，開玩笑嘛，這種情況本來就在所難免。" 然而，一些學校的老師對此現象深表擔憂，他們擔心孩子們會開玩笑開得"過火了"而"傷到他人"。喬治敦暴力研究中心的執行董事艾倫·李普曼說："當一些青春期的孩子表現出天不怕地不怕的樣子時，他們心中都隱藏著或多或少的恐懼，實際上他們害怕受到任何的傷害。這時候最好的辦法就是開玩笑，用幽默來趕走恐懼。" 每當一些重大事件發生的時候，語言中總是會產生一些新的俚語。其中一些俚語很快就被人們遺忘了，但是有一些則最終會成為該語言的一部分。而年輕人（在語言的創新和使用方面）往往會走在成年人的前面，例如年輕人曾用"going postal" 來形容一個人"簡直是瘋了，而且很暴力"（go crazy and violent，90年代中期，美國一些暴力的人扮成郵差，半夜進行謀殺活動）；而 "nuke 'em"則是 "nuke them"的縮寫，直譯是"對他們使用核武器"，意思是"向他開火，狠狠地貶他"。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2002-03-22 01:00
