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Language Report
''The Language Report'' (or, strictly, ''the language report'') was an account of the state and use of the English language published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) in 2003. It was compiled by lexicographer Susie Dent, best known for her regular appearances on the television word game ''Countdown'', and was an annual publication until 2007. The 2003 report The first ''Language Report'', described by the OUP as "a frontline account of what we’re saying and how we’re saying it", reviewed, among other things, changes in the use of English since 1903, how new words come about, the language of the Internet and of text messaging (noting, for example, that on St Valentine’s Day 2003, more text messages than cards were sent), language relating to particular areas of activity (such as fashion, warfare, politics, music, business and sport), urban slang, American and “World” English (for example, that of Australasia and South Africa), as well as nicknames, quotations and pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Report 2003
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of methods, including spoken, sign, and written language. Many languages, including the most widely-spoken ones, have writing systems that enable sounds or signs to be recorded for later reactivation. Human language is highly variable between cultures and across time. Human languages have the properties of productivity and displacement, and rely on social convention and learning. Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between and . Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whistl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp. The name is a combination of several publishing firm names: Harper & Row, an American publishing company acquired in 1987—whose own name was the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers (founded in 1817) and Row, Peterson & Company—together with Scottish publishing company William Collins, Sons (founded in 1819), acquired in 1989. The worldwide CEO of HarperCollins is Brian Murray. HarperCollins has publishing groups in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, India, and China. The company publishes many different imprints, both former independent publishing houses and new imprints. History Collins Harper Mergers and acquisitions Collins was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corpora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbon dioxide and methane, can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, land clearance, and the production and consumption of food, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, transportation and other services. In most cases, the total carbon footprint cannot be calculated exactly because of inadequate knowledge of data about the complex interactions between contributing processes, including the influence of natural processes that store or release carbon dioxide. For this reason, Wright, Kemp, and Williams proposed the following definition of a carbon footprint: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has extended the range of gases. The global average annual carbon footprint per person in 2014 was about 5 tonnes CO2e. Although the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexed Up
Sexed up refers to making something more sexually attractive. Since 2003 it has been used in the sense of making something more attractive than it really is by selective presentation; a modern update to the phrase " hyped up". One variant of "sexed up" is "sex it up". The implication is that no actual lying is taking place, but that spin is being placed on certain parts of the message. History The phrase gained currency in the United Kingdom on 29 May 2003, when BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan filed a report for BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme in which he stated that an unnamed source, a senior British official, had told him that the September Dossier had been "sexed up", and that the intelligence agencies were concerned about some highly dubious information contained within it—specifically the claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order. The dubious information was used to make a case for urgent action and to just ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bling
Bling-bling, often shortened to just bling, is "flashy jewelry worn especially as an indication of wealth or status; broadly: expensive and ostentatious possessions" such as grills and designer bags. The term arose as slang, but grew into a cultural mainstay. Prominent examples of bling-bling include a large cross necklace or Jesus piece. Origins and popularization of the term In linguistics terms, ''bling'' is either an ideophone or an onomatopoeia, depending on the definition one uses, with ''bling-bling'' being its reduplication. Some have attributed the term to rappers that came before B.G., or to the old cartoonish sound effects meant to convey the desirability and or shininess of gold, gems, jewels, money, and more. Bling became increasingly entrenched within the hip hop movement following B.G.'s release of his lead single "Bling Bling" off of his 1999 album ''Chopper City in the Ghetto''. Mass usage The word was added to the ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Catherine Tate Show
''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC. Collectively, the show has been nominated for six BAFTA Awards, two British Comedy Awards and an Emmy Award, and it has won two Royal Television Society Awards, two British Comedy Awards and a National Television Award since its debut in 2004. Broadcast The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from 16 February to 22 March 2004. A DVD of this series was released in August 2005. A second series aired from 21 July to 25 August 2005, and a 40-minute Christmas special was aired on 20 December 2005. For this series a new theme tune was introduced. A DVD of series two was released in October 2006. The third series aired from 14 October to 25 November 2006. There had bee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muckraking
The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publications. The modern term generally references investigative journalism or watchdog journalism; investigative journalists in the US are occasionally called "muckrakers" informally. The muckrakers played a highly visible role during the Progressive Era. Muckraking magazines—notably ''McClure's'' of the publisher S. S. McClure—took on corporate monopolies and political machines, while trying to raise public awareness and anger at urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, prostitution, and child labor. Most of the muckrakers wrote nonfiction, but fictional exposés often had a major impact, too, such as those by Upton Sinclair. In contemporary American usage, the term can refer to journalists or others who "dig deep for the facts" or, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Su Doku
Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3 × 3 subgrids that compose the grid (also called "boxes", "blocks", or "regions") contain all of the digits from 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid, which for a well-posed puzzle has a single solution. French newspapers featured variations of the Sudoku puzzles in the 19th century, and the puzzle has appeared since 1979 in puzzle books under the name Number Place. However, the modern Sudoku only began to gain widespread popularity in 1986 when it was published by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli under the name Sudoku, meaning "single number". It first appeared in a U.S. newspaper, and then ''The Times'' (London), in 2004, thanks to the efforts of Wayne Gould, who devised a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peace Economy
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. Throughout history, leaders have used peacemaking and diplomacy to establish a type of behavioral restraint that has resulted in the establishment of regional peace or economic growth through various forms of agreements or peace treaties. Such behavioral restraint has often resulted in the reduced conflict, greater economic interactivity, and consequently substantial prosperity. "Psychological peace" (such as peaceful thinking and emotions) is perhaps less well defined, yet often a necessary precursor to establishing "behavioural peace." Peaceful behaviour sometimes results from a "peaceful inner disposition." Some have expressed the belief that peace can be initiated with a certain quality of inner tranquility that does not depend upo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chav
"Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. * * * * "Chavette" is a related term referring to female chavs, and the adjectives "chavvy", "chavvish", and "chavtastic" are used to describe things associated with chavs, such as fashion, slang, etc. In other countries like Ireland, "Skanger" is used in a similar manner. In Canada, in the province of Ontario (particularly used in Toronto associated with MTE), the term is "hoodman", an equivalent of the term "roadman" used in England. In the province of Newfoundland, "skeet" is used in a similar way, while in Australia, "eshay" or "adlay" is used. Etymology Opinion is divided on the origin of the term. "Chav" may have its origins in the Romani word "chavi", meaning "child". The word "chavvy" has existed since at least the 19th century; lexicographer Eric Partridge menti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hip (slang)
''Hip'', like '' cool'', does not refer to a quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. Being ''hip'' is also about being informed about the latest ideas, styles, and developments. Origin of term The term ''hip'' is recorded in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the early 1900s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it had become a common slang term, particularly in the African-American-dominated jazz scene. The origin of ''hip'' is unknown; there are many explanations for the etymology of ''hip'', but they remain unproven. Research and speculation by both amateur and professional etymologists suggest that "hip" is derived from an earlier form, ''hep'' but that is disputed. Many etymologists believe that the terms ''hip'', ''hep'' and ''hepcat'' derive from the west African Wolof language word ''hepicat'', which means "one who has his eyes open". Some etymologists reject this, tracing the origin of this putative etymology to David Dalby, a scholar of African languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Whiteley
John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter, and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the game show ''Countdown''. ''Countdown'' was the launch programme for Channel 4 at 4:45 pm on 2 November 1982, and Whiteley was the first person to be seen on the channel (not counting a programme montage). Despite his intelligence, Whiteley enjoyed projecting the image of an absent-minded eccentric. His trademarks were his jolly, avuncular manner, fondness for puns, and his bold, sometimes garish wardrobe. Thanks to over twenty years' worth of nightly instalments of ''Countdown'' as well as his work on the Yorkshire magazine programme ''Calendar'' and various other television projects, at the time of his death Whiteley was believed to have clocked more hours on British television screens—and more than 10,000 appearances—than anyone else alive, apart from Carole Hersee, the young girl who appeared on the BBC's Test Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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