近日，《劍橋詞典》（Cambridge Dictionary）公布了2022年度詞匯：Homer（本壘打）。Homer是棒球運(yùn)動(dòng)中的術(shù)語(yǔ)，指擊球員將對(duì)方來(lái)球擊出后，擊球員依次跑過(guò)一、二、三壘并安全回到本壘。Homer實(shí)際上是非正式的美式英語(yǔ)單詞，這樣一個(gè)專業(yè)詞匯為什么能成為今年的年度詞匯呢？這就要從海外非常火的一款猜詞游戲Wordle說(shuō)起了。

The endless permutations of five-letter words took over the internet in 2022 as the online puzzle game Wordle dominated social media feeds, pop culture and even determined the Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year.
2022年，在線益智游戲Wordle在社交媒體刷屏，五個(gè)字母的無(wú)限排列組合走紅網(wǎng)絡(luò)，甚至決定了《劍橋詞典》的2022年度詞匯。

“Homer” was looked up on the Cambridge Dictionary website more than 79,000 times this year, with 65,401 searches taking place in one day – May 5.
今年，Homer（本壘打）在劍橋詞典網(wǎng)站的搜索次數(shù)超過(guò)79000次，在5月5日這一天內(nèi)被搜索65401次。

The reason? That was the day it was the Wordle answer, provoking frustration from non-American users unfamiliar with the term as they attempted to secure a win by guessing the word within the game’s six-guess limit.
這是為什么呢？因?yàn)閃ordle那天的答案是Homer，這可難倒了不熟悉這個(gè)單詞的非美國(guó)用戶，因?yàn)橥婕抑挥?次猜詞機(jī)會(huì)。

什么是Wordle

Wordle是一款簡(jiǎn)單的英文拼字游戲，這個(gè)游戲每天更新一期，玩家唯一目標(biāo)，就是在六次嘗試機(jī)會(huì)之內(nèi)，猜出一個(gè)五個(gè)字母的單詞。

游戲界面是一個(gè) 5×6 的方塊陣列。玩家通過(guò)下方鍵盤輸入猜測(cè)結(jié)果后，游戲會(huì)給字母方塊標(biāo)上顏色，提示猜測(cè)的準(zhǔn)確性：
綠色：說(shuō)明答案里有這個(gè)字母、所在位置也正確；
黃色：說(shuō)明答案里有這個(gè)字母、但不在這個(gè)位置；
灰色：說(shuō)明答案里沒(méi)有這個(gè)字母。

玩家根據(jù)獲得的提示繼續(xù)嘗試，直到猜對(duì)答案，或者用盡六次機(jī)會(huì)。

“Homer” is an informal American-English term for a home run in baseball, Cambridge Dictionary said in a news release Wednesday. Others might know it as the name of a Simpsons character or an ancient Greek poet.
《劍橋詞典》11月16日發(fā)布新聞稱，“Homer”是非正式美式英語(yǔ)術(shù)語(yǔ)，指棒球全壘打。它還是動(dòng)畫《辛普森一家》中的某個(gè)角色名，以及一位古希臘詩(shī)人的名字。

“Many players outside the US had not heard this word before,” added the news release. “Huge numbers of players expressed their frustration and annoyance on social media, but many also turned to the Cambridge Dictionary to find out more.”
《劍橋詞典》稱：“許多非美國(guó)玩家此前從未聽過(guò)這個(gè)詞。大量玩家在社交媒體上表達(dá)了他們的不滿和惱火，但許多人也通過(guò)查詢《劍橋詞典》了解更多?！?/p>

“Still angry about ‘homer,’” one person tweeted on May 31. “It’s been weeks now. Furious.”
5月31日，有玩家在推特上寫道：“‘homer’這個(gè)詞太讓人火大了。雖然已經(jīng)過(guò)去了好幾周，還是好氣。”

“Wordle效應(yīng)”

There were several other American-English words that appeared on Wordle and later spiked in searches on the Cambridge Dictionary website – described by the dictionary’s news release as the “Wordle effect.”
Wordle的答案中還出現(xiàn)過(guò)幾個(gè)美式英語(yǔ)單詞，這幾個(gè)單詞在劍橋詞典網(wǎng)站上的搜索量激增，《劍橋詞典》稱之為“Wordle效應(yīng)”。

The American spelling of “humor” saw increased traffic, with almost 30,000 searches on the day it was the Wordle answer, while more unusual words like “caulk” and “bayou” were also searched thousands of times.
美式拼寫的“humor”搜索次數(shù)增加，在5月5日被搜索近3萬(wàn)次，而“caulk”和“bayou”等更罕見的單詞也被搜索了數(shù)千次。

Cambridge Dictionary’s choice for word of the year illustrates the popularity of a simple game that could be shared online when global pandemic restrictions limited social interactions for millions.
Homer當(dāng)選《劍橋詞典》年度詞匯表明，當(dāng)新冠疫情限制了數(shù)百萬(wàn)人的社交互動(dòng)時(shí)，一個(gè)可以線上分享的小游戲有多受歡迎。

來(lái)源：CNN
編輯：董靜