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McJob= job with few prospects?
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The world's largest fast food company McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday it plans to launch a campaign in the U.K. this spring to get the country's dictionary houses to change current references to the word "McJob."
The Oxford English Dictionary, considered by manywordsmithsas the gold standard for the English language, is one of those that will be targeted. It defines the noun as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector."
The word first cropped up two decades ago in the Washington Post, according to the dictionary. But executives at Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's say the definition is demeaning to its workers and say they'll ask dictionary editors to amend the definition.
"Dictionaries are supposed to be paragons of accuracy. And in this case, they got it completely wrong," said Walt Riker, a McDonald's spokesman. "It's a completedisserviceand incredibly demeaning to a terrific work force and a company that's been a jobs and opportunity machine for 50 years."
In 2003, editors at the Merriam-Webster dictionary declined to remove or change their definition of "McJob" after McDonald's balked at its inclusion in the book's 11th edition.Instead, the Springfield, Mass. publisher said the word was accurate and appropriate.
Amanda Pierce, a spokeswoman for McDonald's U.K. operations, declined to comment on the specifics of the company's newest campaign, but said it will kick off in May with the goal of changing what she called an "out-of-date" definition.
She said she did not know how long the campaign would last, saying that depended on "how far and wide the campaign goes."
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(Reuters)
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本周二，全球快餐業(yè)巨頭麥當勞集團表示，公司打算于今年春天在英國發(fā)起一場運動，以促使某些詞典出版社修改對McJob一詞的解釋。
歷來為語言大師們譽為英語語言“金科玉律”的牛津英語辭典也是其目標之一。牛津英語詞典將McJob一詞定義為“無激勵、薪水低、無前途的工作，尤指服務行業(yè)擴張所帶來的工作?！?/font>
據(jù)牛津英語詞典介紹，McJob一詞于20年前首次出現(xiàn)在《華盛頓郵報》上。但總部位于伊利諾斯州Oak Brook的麥當勞的管理人員稱，這個定義是對麥當勞員工的貶低；并表示他們將要求詞典的編輯對這一注釋進行修改。
麥當勞的發(fā)言人沃爾特·萊克說：“詞典應該是準確的典范。而他們對這個詞的解釋卻是完全錯誤的。這無論對于一個好員工、還是對一個50年來創(chuàng)造了無數(shù)就業(yè)和機會的公司來說，都是一種徹底的傷害和難以置信的貶低?！?/font>
2003年，由于麥當勞公司拒絕將McJob一詞收入韋氏大字典第11版中，因此字典的編輯拒絕刪除或修改這個詞的定義。相反，韋氏大字典堅持對這個詞的解釋是正確的、恰當?shù)摹?/font>
麥當勞英國區(qū)女發(fā)言人阿曼達·皮爾斯拒絕對公司這項最新運動的細節(jié)發(fā)表評論，但據(jù)她透露，此活動將于5月份啟動，其目的就是改變這個“過時的”定義。
她說，她不知道此活動將持續(xù)多久，這將主要取決于“活動進行的深度和廣度”。
（ 英語點津姍姍編輯）
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