神秘内容 Loading...
Word for the Wise July 21, 2006 Broadcast Topic: Words from 1984

The livin' may be easy in the summer, but some parents aren't content to just tell their children to come in when the streetlights go on. Yes, today we are talking about the playdate. (来源:英语学习门户 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

Playdate—"a play session for small children arranged in advance by their parents"—first appeared in print in 1984. What did children do before then? Well, they played, of course. But before you dismiss the concept of the playdate out of hand, take a look at some other terms that, like playdate, first appeared in print 22 years ago.

We'll begin with food and drink. Both buffalo wings and brewpub date to 1984; that was also the birth year of the phrase eating disorder.

Shall we check out coinages from the world of work? 1984 was the year glass ceiling first appeared in print, and it was also the year of the cellphone. Cells date back only to 1984? Yep, and so do laptop, desktop publishing, search engine, and phone tag.

We'll move on to the more somber—battered woman syndrome, hate crime, and the verb date rape all entered print that year. So did crystal meth. But we'll end with these four upbeat adjectives from 1984: pumped, sculpted, repurposed, and over-the-top, and the delightful noun, happy camper.

 
神秘内容 Loading...

你可能对下面的文章也感兴趣:

·Language and bullion
·Words from the moon
·Founder and sink
·Succor
·Take a hint
·Words from William Thackeray
·Your fibs
·Elbridge Gerry and gerrymander
·Poor man's treacle
·Words from 1789

上一篇:Language and bullion  
下一篇:Words from the moon
[返回顶部] [打印本页] [关闭窗口]