Thursday, November 30, 2023

Authentic: Merriam-Webster's word of the year - BBC - Dictionary

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Merriam-Webster has picked its word of the year.

"Authentic" is the top word of 2023, according to America's oldest dictionary.

Merriam-Webster said it saw a "substantial increase" in online searches for it this year.

The interest was "driven by stories and conversations about AI [artificial intelligence], celebrity culture, identity, and social media", the dictionary publisher said.

One reason many people search for the word is because it has a number of meanings, including "not false or imitation" and also "true to one's own personality, spirit, or character".

"Although clearly a desirable quality, 'authentic' is hard to define and subject to debate," Merriam-Webster said.

The publisher added that the popularity of the word, which had been highly searched in the US in the past, grew this year as "the line between 'real' and 'fake'" became increasingly blurred.

The AI boom helped with the blurring, spurring interest in the authenticity of text, images and videos, the company said.

One of the runners-up for the top was "deepfake", used to describe videos and photos that are digitally altered with AI.

Meanwhile, brands, social media influencers and celebrities also popularised the word, including Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter, who has said people should be more "authentic" on social media.

Other top words from 2023 include the internet slang "rizz" - short for charisma, meaning romantic appeal or charm - and "indict", which saw a surge in interest after former President Donald Trump was indicted, or charged, in four separate legal cases.

The top words in the US were not immune to British influence. Coronation was also highly searched after Charles III was crowned the new king in May.

In 2022, the word of the year was "gaslighting", a colloquial term for manipulating somebody to cause them to question their own realities or beliefs.

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From Gumshoes to Gats: A Dictionary of Hard-Boiled Slang - Art of Manliness - Dictionary

I’m a big fan of hard-boiled detective novels. I highlighted my favorites in a previous article.

The thing about hard-boiled detective novels is that the characters often use slang words that were in common use in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but are no longer part of our popular vocabulary.

There have been a few times when I’ve been reading a Raymond Chandler or John McDonald novel where the dialogue left me scratching my head.

Hundreds of hard-boiled slang words have been recorded and compiled. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorites from this category of vernacular. You’ll likely notice that there are a lot of different words for “detective.” It took me a while to figure out that a “shamus” was a detective. My absolute favorite of these slang words are the greetings (“How’s tricks?” “What’s the score?”) and the ways to tell people to get lost (“Go fry a stale egg!”).

Hopefully, reviewing this list will help you better understand the next hard-boiled detective novel you read. And maybe you’ll even sprinkle some of these words into your daily vocab to mix things up with some gritty old-school lingo.

Big house. Federal prison.

Bird. Person, either male or female, but frequently female.

Bite an egg. Take breakfast.

Blow. To leave.

Bo. Generic address; guy; jack; pal.

Booby-hatch. Mental hospital.

Bull. Cop.

Butter and egg man. Sugar daddy; implication is one fairly free with his money.

Buttons. Cops.

Buzzer. Police badge; identification.

C-note. Hundred-dollar bill.

Chicago overcoat. Coffin.

Chiseler. Low-life; hanger-on; somebody chiseling money from others.

Dance on air. Hang, as from a noose.

Darb. A person with money, who can be relied upon to pay a check.

Dead soldier. Empty liquor bottle.

Deadpan. Bodyguard; tough guy; gunny with a sheen of respectability.

Dip the bill. To have a drink.

Dish. Attractive woman.

Draw a lot of water. To have a lot of influence; to exert great influence.

Drop the arm. Arrest; nab; apprehend; snatch.

Dry-gulch. To ambush; surprise; sneak attack or attack from behind.

Dumb onion. A fool; dupe; idiot.

Dust. Take a hike; get lost; drift.

Fakeloo artist. Conman; faker; liar; pretender; deceiver.

Fin. $5 bill.

Flatfoot. Detective; shamus.

Flim-flam: Dupe; deceive; trick; take in.

Floaters. Corpses in the water; people dead by drowning.

Fog. Riddle someone with bullets.

Gat. Gun.

Gee. Man; fellow.

Gill. A drink.

Go fry a stale egg. Get lost; go jump in a lake.

Goose-berry lay. Stealing clothes from clotheslines.

Gumshoe. Detective/private dick/PI/etc.

Gunny. Hired gun; thug.

Gunsel. Hired gun.

Hackie. Taxi driver.

Hard boy. Tough guy; bodyguard; hired thug.

Hard number. Tough guy.

Hay. Useless scrip/fake bills/etc.

Heel. Jerk; low life; scumbag.

Heeled. Packing; carrying a gun.

How’s tricks? A greeting, akin to “How’s it going?”

Jake [also jakeloo]. Fine; okay; acceptable; no big deal.

Jasper. Man; handsome fellow.

Keyhole peeper. Detective/private dick/PI/etc.

Loogan. A guy with a gun.

Lug. A guy; generic address for a man; connotation of thick-headedness or limited ability/usefulness; not necessarily connoting goon, thug.

Lulu. A good-looking woman.

Make with the feet. Get lost; scram.

Mauler. Brass knuckles.

Mickey Finn (mickey). A surreptitiously adulterated drink (or the drug added to the drink to make it so) given to somebody for the purpose of rendering them insensible or unconscious.

Miscount the trumps. To overlook something.

Moll. Gangster’s girlfriend/woman/partner.

Mugg. A man (sometimes referring to dumb ones), guy, person; possible connotation of not being entirely on the up-and-up.

Muggle-smoker/muggle. Pothead; druggie.

Nevada gas. Cyanide.

Newshawk. Reporter.

No soap. No luck.

Nuts to you. Go to hell (mild).

Pie-eyed. Very drunk.

Piker. Amateur; small-time operator.

Polish an apple: Talk up; chat up; suck up to.

Prowl car. Police car.

Real cream. A good person.

Rodded. Carrying a gun (rod).

Rooster. Man who picks a fight, or somebody who carries himself like a rooster; confrontational.

Sap. Fool; fall-guy; love-struck sucker.

Sawbuck/double sawbuck. 10 dollars/20 dollars.

Shamus. Detective/private dick/PI/etc.

Sharper. Detective; private operator.

Sitting on dynamite. In the crosshairs; in the middle of a (figuratively) explosive situation.

Slip (one’s) clutch. Losing it.

Smart little egg. A fool; dupe; idiot.

Sneezer. Jail.

Squibbed (off). Killed.

Stool-pigeon. Rat; fink; an informant; criminal who talks to the cops.

Take a flutter (at something). To make a passing attempt.

Twist. Woman, with possible connotation of girlfriend, or somebody seen on the side.

Typewriter. Machine-gun.

What’s the score? What’s going on; what’s up; etc.

World-beater. Somebody better than the rest; capable of taking on the world; a person in high esteem.

Yard. One hundred dollars.

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Did the Dutch Edition of Omid Scobie Book Name Royal Racist? - The Cut - Translation

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

If you’re Dutch and love royals drama, I hope you got your hands on a copy of Omid Scobie’s Endgame (or Eindstrijd) before it was pulled from the shelves. The Dutch translation of the book, which purports to detail the current state of the British royal family, reportedly names the family members who were involved in the now-infamous conversation about the skin color of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Archie. Before the publishers clocked the oversight, a passage made the rounds on X, seeming to confirm a theory already in circulation: Maybe it was King Charles who said it. Or maybe he was at least involved in the discussion.

According to Google Translate, the passage details an exchange of letters between Charles and Markle, in which the then-prince expressed sadness for the “huge distance between the two parties and that he was disappointed that the couple had gone public.” He was apparently referring to the Sussexes’ big Oprah interview in 2021, during which Markle said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.” The former actress declined to name the person who’d made the comments, saying that it “would be very damaging to them.” Oprah later told CBS that Prince Harry wanted to clarify that it was not Queen Elizabeth nor her husband, Prince Philip. The idea that it might’ve been Charles surfaced later that year, in a biography claiming he made the remarks to Queen Camilla around the time of Markle and Harry’s 2017 engagement. Harry has since backtracked on the Oprah comments, insisting during his publicity tour for Spare that he had never accused anyone in his family of racism. But in Eindstrijd’s reported telling, Charles wrote Markle to say “there was no ill will or bias when he spoke about his future grandson. ‘He wanted to clarify something he felt was very important.’”

For his part, Scobie (who also happens to be a sympathetic Sussex biographer) says he doesn’t know how that allegation made it into Eindstrijd. “Having only written and edited the English version of Endgame, I can only comment on that manuscript — which does not name the two individuals who took part in the conversation,” Scobie told People. “I’m happy to hear that the error in the translation of the Dutch edition is being fixed.” As speculation ballooned, Scobie told ITV News: “I have never submitted a book that had their names in it.”

Of course, it’s unclear whether or not the original Dutch version of the book was based on an earlier draft, but the translator now insists on one thing: She did not go rogue, nor was she just being messy. “As a translator, I translate what is in front of me,” Saskia Peeters told the Daily Mail. “The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do, and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.”

In a statement to People, the book’s Dutch publishers called the naming of royals an “error” and said that a “rectified edition” of the book would be back on shelves in December. Meanwhile, anyone with a non-English copy of Endgame should get to reading. Maybe the Italian edition has the goss on when the hell Markle is getting back on Instagram.

This article has been updated.

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Dutch Translator Denies Revealing Royal Secrets

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Omid Scobie book: How could the royal naming mistake happen? - BBC.com - Translation

By Sean CoughlanRoyal correspondent

BBC Omid ScobieBBC
Omid Scobie says he had never written a version with the name of the person in the race row

So how does the Dutch version of a book have lines that don't appear in the original English edition?

Not any random lines - but a highly damaging reference linking members of the Royal Family to a race row that has rumbled on for years.

That's the royal puzzle after the Dutch translation of Omid Scobie's Endgame appeared to reveal the name of people alleged to have made comments about the skin colour of the baby that Prince Harry and Meghan were expecting.

It's started a wave of speculation, from front pages to social media - including Piers Morgan announcing the alleged names on his TalkTV programme.

And on ITV's This Morning programme on Thursday, Scobie once again said he had "never submitted a book that had their names in it".

The naming in the Dutch language version of Endgame has been presented as a mistake, a very embarrassing one, and the book has been hastily taken off the shelves. But how could it have happened?

The Dutch language edition, Eindstrijd, has a very plain identification of a senior royal and another less specific reference to a second name.

The publisher's managing director, Anke Roelen, said on Tuesday night: "An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified."

As a result, the publishing house, Xander Uitgevers, is "temporarily withdrawing the book", with its release day descending into chaos.

It's now going to be re-released on Friday, in a "rectified" version, say the publishers.

Dutch version of Endgame
Publishers Xander Uitgevers say it is "temporarily withdrawing" Endgame in the Netherlands

Although the blame was initially placed on the translation process, a comparison of the English and Dutch text doesn't suggest it's about getting some of the phrases or vocabulary mixed up.

The line clearly identifying a member of the Royal Family isn't in the English text, so it hasn't been mistranslated. It seems to have been added.

And an updated message from the publisher now talks of an "error", without mentioning translations, if that has any significance.

The next thought might be that this was part of a draft or a previous edit that had been taken out of other language versions, but had mistakenly not been updated in the Dutch version.

But the author Omid Scobie, speaking on Dutch television on Tuesday, made it clear that any version he had produced had never named names. So that would rule out this having been a draft or remnant of some previous editing that had not been removed.

"There's never been a version that I've produced that has names in it," the author told the RTL Boulevard show.

"The book's available in a number of languages and unfortunately I can't speak Dutch, so I haven't seen the copy for myself, so if there have been any translation errors I'm sure the publisher's got it under control," said Mr Scobie.

Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions / CBS Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, being interviewed by Oprah WinfreyJoe Pugliese / Harpo Productions / CBS
The race row emerged from Oprah Winfrey's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan

In pre-publicity, he had made a specific point of saying that for legal reasons, he wouldn't identify the names involved in the race row that emerged from Prince Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Prince Harry and Meghan themselves have never given the name of the person or persons, who were alleged to have asked questions about the skin colour of their as yet unborn baby.

As Meghan herself has observed about the potential consequences of revealing the name: "I think that would be very damaging to them."

After this was first revealed in the Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021 it sparked a royal race row, and questions about the identity of those involved have become a lingering cloud.

This latest book makes the claim that there were two people involved in asking these questions rather than one.

Apart from an update on Wednesday announcing a new release date, the publisher has still to say what went wrong - but that won't stop those trying to work out what happened.

Could it have been some kind of publishing version of a hack or a hoax? Was it a sales stunt? A prank? Stray text put in for a joke and then not removed? Or someone changing text after the proofreading was finished?

What's surprising is that any other news lines in the book were heavily trailed, including excerpts in the US press and in interviews.

So it might seem odd to bury the biggest bombshell in the middle of the book, without any subsequent explanation of this revelation, and without any kind of highlighting of the claim.

After this short line revealing the name, the Dutch text goes back to the same as the English, while you might expect it to reference back or expand on such a major revelation, which would be the biggest moment in the book.

If a publisher had decided to take such a big decision to reveal this information, it would be its biggest selling point as well as its biggest risk.

Either way, if it was going to be deliberately revealed it's hard to see why it would be tucked away as a single line, mid-text, rather than milked in every way to boost sales.

Buckingham Palace hasn't been commenting on what has appeared in the Dutch edition of Endgame, in a book that already had been taking aim at the senior members of the Royal Family.

The English-language publishers, Harper Collins, have also not responded.

In the wake of the Oprah interview, with its toxic questions about racism and the royals, the late Queen's response had included: "Recollections may vary."

In this latest Dutch whodunnit, it seems translations may vary too.



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The Dictionary Entry for "Perfect" Is Just a Picture of Keke Palmer's Waist-Length Curls - Yahoo Life - Dictionary

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TBH, we think Keke Palmer should host everything: the Oscars, the Grammys, the Met Gala and everything in between. The multi-hyphenate is so charismatic and talented that she makes it look effortless, and if more hosting gigs means more beauty inspo, all the better.

Palmer recently hosted the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles, and though she changed up her style several times throughout the ceremony, the waist-length curls she wore to perform her song “Ungorgeous” may just be our favorite look of the night, which is really saying something given she also rocked a slicked-down, middle-parted ponytail and voluminous honey-blonde bombshell curls, not to mention the many pre-show promo looks. (More curl inspo right this way.)

To perform the heartfelt ballad, Palmer slipped into a white lace minidress and a matching sheer duster. Her hair was swept back from her face and worn loose, the curls flowing all the way down her back and over one shoulder as she sang. Hairstylist Keshaun Williamson, who also goes by Lace Assassin and frequently works with Palmer, used Bold Hold Lace America Liquid Gold and Lace Gelly on the install and bundles from D Hair Boutique to bring Palmer's look to life for her spotlight moment.

“For the show, we wanted to do a few different changes since she was hosting and changing outfits,” Williamson told Allure. “The outfits each had a different vibe, so we chose hairstyles that fit the vibe of each look.” For the performance portion, Williamson wanted something that would work well with the elements given it was outdoors. “We were dealing with wind, so I decided to have the hair out of her face so it wouldn't be a problem.” He used a crimping iron to create a uniform wave that would “be harder to separate and blow everywhere.”

An equally romantic, dramatic winged smoky eye, fluttery lash and lined lip courtesy makeup artist Kenya Alexis provided the perfect finishing touch. Later in the evening, Palmer transformed the curls into an afterparty-ready half-up style and celebrated with T-Pain.

<h1 class="title">Keke Palmer Waist-Length Curls</h1><cite class="credit">Getty Images</cite>
Getty Images
<h1 class="title">Keke Palmer Waist-Length Curls</h1><cite class="credit">Getty Images</cite>
Getty Images

Then again, this is Keke Palmer we're talking about here. The actor/musician/podcast host/new mom never fails to serve up the glam, even when she's not hosting an awards show. We've seen her channel Farrah Fawcett with lots of body and bounce; give bright blue streaks a try; channel Barbie in bright platinum blonde; throw it back to Whitney Houston's ‘80s curls; and even make rainbow butterfly clips cool again.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


More celeb curls we love:


Now, watch Keke try 9 new activities:

Follow Allure on Instagram and TikTok, or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on all things beauty.

Originally Appeared on Allure

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The Dictionary Entry for "Perfect" Is Just a Picture of Keke Palmer's Waist-Length Curls - Yahoo Life - Dictionary

Getty Images

TBH, we think Keke Palmer should host everything: the Oscars, the Grammys, the Met Gala and everything in between. The multi-hyphenate is so charismatic and talented that she makes it look effortless, and if more hosting gigs means more beauty inspo, all the better.

Palmer recently hosted the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles, and though she changed up her style several times throughout the ceremony, the waist-length curls she wore to perform her song “Ungorgeous” may just be our favorite look of the night, which is really saying something given she also rocked a slicked-down, middle-parted ponytail and voluminous honey-blonde bombshell curls, not to mention the many pre-show promo looks. (More curl inspo right this way.)

To perform the heartfelt ballad, Palmer slipped into a white lace minidress and a matching sheer duster. Her hair was swept back from her face and worn loose, the curls flowing all the way down her back and over one shoulder as she sang. Hairstylist Keshaun Williamson, who also goes by Lace Assassin and frequently works with Palmer, used Bold Hold Lace America Liquid Gold and Lace Gelly on the install and bundles from D Hair Boutique to bring Palmer's look to life for her spotlight moment.

“For the show, we wanted to do a few different changes since she was hosting and changing outfits,” Williamson told Allure. “The outfits each had a different vibe, so we chose hairstyles that fit the vibe of each look.” For the performance portion, Williamson wanted something that would work well with the elements given it was outdoors. “We were dealing with wind, so I decided to have the hair out of her face so it wouldn't be a problem.” He used a crimping iron to create a uniform wave that would “be harder to separate and blow everywhere.”

An equally romantic, dramatic winged smoky eye, fluttery lash and lined lip courtesy makeup artist Kenya Alexis provided the perfect finishing touch. Later in the evening, Palmer transformed the curls into an afterparty-ready half-up style and celebrated with T-Pain.

<h1 class="title">Keke Palmer Waist-Length Curls</h1><cite class="credit">Getty Images</cite>
Getty Images
<h1 class="title">Keke Palmer Waist-Length Curls</h1><cite class="credit">Getty Images</cite>
Getty Images

Then again, this is Keke Palmer we're talking about here. The actor/musician/podcast host/new mom never fails to serve up the glam, even when she's not hosting an awards show. We've seen her channel Farrah Fawcett with lots of body and bounce; give bright blue streaks a try; channel Barbie in bright platinum blonde; throw it back to Whitney Houston's ‘80s curls; and even make rainbow butterfly clips cool again.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


More celeb curls we love:


Now, watch Keke try 9 new activities:

Follow Allure on Instagram and TikTok, or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on all things beauty.

Originally Appeared on Allure

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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Did the Dutch Edition of Omid Scobie Book Name Royal Racist? - The Cut - Translation

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

If you’re Dutch and love royals drama, I hope you got your hands on a copy of Omid Scobie’s Endgame (or Eindstrijd) before it was pulled from the shelves. The Dutch translation of the book, which purports to detail the current state of the British royal family, reportedly names the family members who were involved in the now-infamous conversation about the skin color of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Archie. Before the publishers clocked the oversight, a passage made the rounds on X, seeming to confirm a theory already in circulation: Maybe it was King Charles who said it. Or maybe he was at least involved in the discussion.

According to Google Translate, the passage details an exchange of letters between Charles and Markle, in which the then-prince expressed sadness for the “huge distance between the two parties and that he was disappointed that the couple had gone public.” He was apparently referring to the Sussexes’ big Oprah interview in 2021, during which Markle said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.” The former actress declined to name the person who’d made the comments, saying that it “would be very damaging to them.” Oprah later told CBS that Prince Harry wanted to clarify that it was not Queen Elizabeth nor her husband, Prince Philip. The idea that it might’ve been Charles surfaced later that year, in a biography claiming he made the remarks to Queen Camilla around the time of Markle and Harry’s 2017 engagement. In Scobie’s telling, Charles wrote Markle to say “there was no ill will or bias when he spoke about his future grandson. ‘He wanted to clarify something he felt was very important.’”

For his part, Scobie (who also happens to be a sympathetic Sussex biographer) says he doesn’t know how that allegation made it into Eindstrijd. “Having only written and edited the English version of Endgame, I can only comment on that manuscript — which does not name the two individuals who took part in the conversation,” Scobie told People. “I’m happy to hear that the error in the translation of the Dutch edition is being fixed.”

Of course, it’s unclear whether or not this version of the book was based on an earlier draft or whether there was a rogue Dutch translator who felt like being messy. In a statement to People, the book’s Dutch publishers called it an “error” and said that a “rectified edition” of the book would be back on shelves in December. Meanwhile, anyone with a non-English copy of Endgame should get to reading. Maybe the Italian edition has the goss on when the hell Markle is getting back on Instagram.

Tags:

  • meghan markle
  • prince harry
  • king charles
  • royals
  • More
Did a Rogue Dutch Translator Reveal Royal Secrets?

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'Perreo,' term for popular reggaeton dance, makes it into 'official' Spanish-language dictionary - NBC News - Dictionary

"Perreo," the name of the dance performed to the rhythm of the widely popular Latin urban genre reggaeton, which has deep roots in Puerto Rico, is officially a Spanish word.

It's one of the more than 4,000 new terms and definitions added to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española, or Spanish Royal Academy, on Tuesday.

According to the Real Academia Española, the official definition of “perreo” is, “dance that is generally performed to the rhythm of reggaeton, with erotic hip movements, and in which, when dancing in pairs, the man usually places himself behind the woman with their bodies very close together.”

The Real Academia Española is considered to be the Spanish-speaking world’s top linguistic institution and the final arbiter on the use of the Spanish language globally.

The word "perreo" has been commonly used in Puerto Rico since at least the early 1990s, when the first reggaeton tracks emerged. At the time, the genre was known as “underground.” It became known as reggaeton after artists started infusing the distinctive dem bow beats that define the genre today.

Institutions such as the Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española, or the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language, have tried to get this and other Puerto Rican words recognized by the Real Academia Española.

The Puerto Rico-based academy promotes the preservation and study of Puerto Rican Spanish on the island.

"In Puerto Rico, the media has published, on the front page, words from that academy that caught my attention such as a 'perreo,'" Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Real Academia Española, said in a news conference Tuesday. "The most modern of us will know that it is a dance that is generally performed to the rhythm of reggaeton."

In addition to local media integrating the use of the term "perreo" into the Spanish vocabulary of Puerto Rico, the word became known in other Spanish-speaking countries as reggaeton became more popular.

Puerto Rican artists like Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny are often credited for the globalization of reggaeton, with the latter even winning a Latin Grammy for best reggaeton performance for his hit "Yo Perreo Sola" in 2020.

For more from NBC Latino, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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Monday, November 27, 2023

Merriam-Webster's word of the year is 'authentic.' That says a lot about 2023 - NPR - Dictionary

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"Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate," wrote Merriam-Webster about its word of the year. Joanne K. Watson/handout via Getty Images

Joanne K. Watson/handout via Getty Images

If what we search for is any indication of what we value, then things aren't looking great for artificial intelligence.

"Authentic" was selected as the 2023 word of the year by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, landing among the most-looked-up words in the dictionary's 500,000 entries, the company said in a press release Monday.

After all, this was the year that Chat GPT disrupted academic integrity and AI drove Hollywood actors and writers to the picket lines.

Celebrities like Prince Harry and Britney Spears sought to tell their own stories. A certain New York congressman got a taste of comeuppance after years of lying. The summer's hottest blockbuster was about a world of pristine plastic colliding with flesh-and-blood reality.

On social media, millions signed up to "BeReal," beauty filters sparked a big backlash and Elon Musk told brands to be more "authentic" on Twitter (now X) before deciding to charge them all $8 a month to prove that they are who they say.

2023 was the year that authenticity morphed into performance, its very meaning made fuzzy amidst the onslaught of algorithms and alternative facts. The more we crave it, the more we question it.

This is where the dictionary definition comes in.

"Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate — two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary," Merriam-Webster said in its release. Look-ups for the word saw a "substantial increase in 2023," it added.

For a word that we might associate with a certain kind of reliability, "authentic" comes with more than one meaning.

It's a synonym for "real," defined as "not false or imitation." But it can also mean "true to one's own personality, spirit, or character" and, sneakily, "conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features."

This may be why we connect it to ethnicity (authentic cuisine or authentic accent) but also identity in the larger sense (authentic voice and authentic self). In this age where artifice seems to advance daily, we're in a collective moment of trying to go back, to connect with some earlier, simpler version of ourselves.

The dictionary said an additional 13 words stood out in 2023's look-up data. Not surprisingly, quite a few of them have a direct tie-in to the year's biggest news stories: coronation, dystopian, EGOT, implode, doppelganger, covenant, kibbutz, elemental, X and indict.

Others on the list feel connotatively connected to "authentic," or at least our perception of identity in a changing age — words like deepfake, deadname and rizz.

This year, the data-crunchers had to filter out countless five-letter words because they appeared on the smash-hit daily word puzzle, Wordle, the dictionary's editor-at-large told the Associated Press.

That people were turning to Merriam-Webster to verify new vocabulary could be read as a sign of progress. After all, 2022's word of the year belied a distrust of authority: gaslighting.

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BBC Updates Palestinian Prisoner Interview After Translation Error Controversy - Mediaite - Translation

BBC

BBC quoted Palestinian prisoner Sara Al Suwaisa saying: “Only Hamas cared” amid descriptions of her ordeal in Israeli prison. (Screengrab via BBC News)

The BBC addressed allegations from Respond Crisis Translation Monday, which claimed the broadcaster incorrectly translated an interview with a released Palestinian prisoner, suggesting she praised Hamas.

In the disputed BBC clip, posted during a live blog feed of its coverage of the hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel, a subtitled translation quoted released Palestinian prisoner Sara Al Suwaisa saying: “Only Hamas cared” amid descriptions of her ordeal in Israeli prison.

Respond Crisis Translation took to X with a comprehensive translation of the interview clip, asserting that the original interview did not mention Hamas at all.

In the thread the language advocacy group called the BBC’s version a “dangerous” and “egregious mistranslation” and a “racist fabrication that fans the flames of war.”

“Mistranslations such as these – intentional or not – are exacerbating the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” the group said.

Soon after, the BBC removed the clip from the feed “due to an error in the editing process.” Backlash followed, with concerns that the original clip didn’t include any of the quoted references.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Associate Professor Marc Owen Jones pointed out in an accompanying thread that in an extended version of Al Suwaisa’s interview footage available on Al Jazeera in full that she did say that she was “proud” of Hamas and “loved them.”

Jones continued: “the BBC appear to have taken the sentiment and some of the words from the Al Jazeera video and inserted [it] into their video.”

Responding to Respond Crisis Translation’s X thread, the BBC again admitted an editing error led to inaccurate subtitles in the initial clip. A revised version, they assert, includes the woman’s reference to Hamas.

The new translation includes Al Suwaisa’s description of the harsh conditions: “The Israelis came to us at 10 o’clock and informed us there was a deal for exchange. We were isolated for a month.They fired tear gas at us. We felt we were humiliated. We had to keep head scarves on all day long. None of us could recognise the other. Some [of] us were tortured and weren’t dealt with as POWs and nobody could help anyone else. They locked us in and in dark rooms. We suffered from cold in winter. They sprayed pepper at us and left us suffering in the wards.

Al Suwaisa concluded: “Nobody felt our sufferings. Only Hamas felt our sufferings. We thank them a lot and love each other a lot.”

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BBC responds after language translators accuse broadcaster of 'dangerous' error - The National - Translation

Respond Crisis Translation claimed on Twitter/X that the BBC had made a “dangerous” error in the translation of an interview posted on the broadcaster’s website on Saturday afternoon by suggesting the woman being interviewed had said “only Hamas cared” when she did not appear to mention the organisation at all.

The BBC Arabic translation initially gave her words as: “The Israelis came to us at 10 in the morning and told us there was a deal.

“We were suffering from difficult circumstances and tear gas was fired at us. We were wearing head covers all the time. The situation was humiliating and included psychological torture, in addition to cutting off the electricity for the prisoners.

“We were suffering from the cold without the electricity and no one helped us. Only Hamas cared. Those who felt our suffering, I thank them very much and we love them very much.”

Respond Crisis Translation insisted the woman never mentioned Hamas and accused the BBC of not only an "egregious mistranslation" but a “racist fabrication that fans the flames of war”.

The organisation called on the BBC to immediately correct the mistake which it said exacerbated “the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza”.

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Respond Crisis Translation said: “Mistranslations such as these – intentional or not – are exacerbating the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”

On Monday morning, the BBC admitted the clip carried inaccurate subtitles due to an error in the editing process and has now posted a longer clip where bosses say the woman does mention Hamas.

The BBC News Press Team account said: “The video posted on Saturday at 14:48 GMT originally carried inaccurate subtitles due to an error in the editing process.

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“The page has now been updated to a longer version posted here [link shared] which does include reference to Hamas.”

The new clip is translated as: “The Israelis came to us at 10 o’clock and informed us there was a deal for exchange. We were isolated for a month.

“They fired tear gas at us. We felt we were humiliated. We had to keep head scarves on all day long. None of us could recognise the other.

“Some [of] us were tortured and weren’t dealt with as POWs and nobody could help anyone else.

“They locked us in and in dark rooms. We suffered from cold in winter.

“They sprayed pepper at us and left us suffering in the wards.

“Nobody felt our sufferings. Only Hamas felt our sufferings. We thank them a lot and love each other a lot.”

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Sunday, November 26, 2023

Michael Alexander, poet and broadcaster whose Anglo-Saxon translations were used in Kenneth Clark's Civilisation ... - The Telegraph - Translation

Michael Alexander, who has died aged 82, was a translator, poet, academic and broadcaster whose scholarship was both deep and varied; his interests ranged from Old English poetry to the modernism of Ezra Pound, and he was also the author of an epic history of English literature that ran to more than 400 pages.

While still a student at Oxford University, Alexander started translating Anglo-Saxon poetry into modern English verse, inspired by Ezra Pound’s translation of The Seafarer. In 1966 Penguin published his translations as The Earliest English Poems, and he was subsequently commissioned to translate the 3,182-line Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf into modern verse.

It was first published in 1973 and Alexander went on to produce a glossed text, also for Penguin, in 1995. “Alexander’s translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful,” noted the medievalist Tom Shippey. “[He] communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication.”

Several more books followed, including a History of Old English Literature (Macmillan, 1983) and The Canterbury Tales – The First Fragment (Penguin, 1996). Collectively, Alexander’s Old English books for Penguin sold more than a million copies. His translations were singled out by WH Auden, Seamus Heaney and Kenneth Clark, who used Alexander’s renderings of Anglo-Saxon poetry in Civilisation.

Academic success led to literary commissions for BBC radio, to which Alexander brought his customary erudition and good humour. For 17 years he represented Scotland on Radio 4’s Round Britain quiz, alongside the Sunday Herald journalist Alan Taylor, who cheerfully referred to the programme as “the mental equivalent of the mediaeval rack”. In later years, Alexander’s documentaries for Radio 4 included Past Perfect, a profile of Penelope Fitzgerald, and Macavity’s Not There, on TS Eliot.

Upon his retirement from the position of Berry Professor at the University of St Andrews in 2003, Professor Robert Crawford, Head of the School of English, paid him a warm tribute. “[Professor Alexander] writes deftly, with a fluency born of industry, yet which seems, for all its freight of learning, stylishly and easily airborne,” he observed. “Poetry seems written in his stars.”

The eldest of three children, Michael Joseph Alexander was born in Wigan on May 21 1941, to Joseph Alexander and his wife Winifred, née Gaul. The family lived in Liverpool but had transferred to Wigan after the city came under heavy bombardment from the Germans and the maternity hospital where Winifred had been due to give birth was hit.

Michael Alexander in Australia, 1977 Credit: Lucy Alexander

When Michael was five the Alexanders moved from Liverpool to rural Worcestershire, where Joseph was the manager of Worcestershire Farmers, an agricultural cooperative that made and sold animal feed to farmers. Michael attended boarding school from the age of eight, at Worth Priory in Sussex and then Downside in Somerset. At Trinity College, Oxford, he read English from 1959-62.

After leaving Oxford, he spent a year learning French at Cahors and Italian at Perugia (where he met Ezra Pound several times), then took a job as a general trainee in publishing at William Collins. He left in 1965 for a PhD at Princeton, which he abandoned after a year, finding it oppressively Presbyterian and stiff after Oxford (it was a “dry” campus).

The publication of The Earliest English Poems in 1966 led to a job as a lecturer in English at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Alexander lived in Montecito and was (for the only time in his life) very well paid, but found UCSB rather “vacant”. He went back to London and worked briefly for the publisher André Deutsch, under Diana Athill, at the same time taking on the commission to translate Beowulf for Penguin. 

The work took him to the University of East Anglia, where he held a temporary teaching post, and then to Stirling in Scotland, where he rented a room in a castle, made lifelong friends and met his first wife, Eileen McCall. In 1985 he was appointed to the Berry Chair of English at St Andrews University, where he helped to revitalise the struggling English department.

Michael Alexander in Ireland, 2012 Credit: Lucy Alexander

Following his retirement from St Andrews he continued to write, publishing Medievalism: the Middle Ages in Modern England (2007), Geoffrey Chaucer (2012) and Reading Shakespeare (2013). A History of English Literature (2000) ran to two further editions in 2007 and 2013. In 2021 Shoestring Press published Alexander’s short book of poems Here at the Door (the title taken from a line by John Donne). It included a three-stanza reduction of Beowulf, which ended:

Much later a Dragon awoke,
Sent Beowulf’s hall up in smoke,
So his fifty not-out
Was all up the spout.
But he killed it, then died. What a bloke!

A gifted raconteur, Michael Alexander was capable of discoursing on an enormous range of subjects, often in places where the listener least expected it: supermarket car parks, say, or the queue for the bathroom. He took his Catholic faith very seriously but wore it lightly, and was never dogmatic.

He enjoyed games but didn’t play to win, preferring to explore the dead-end corridors of the Cluedo mansion rather than enter any rooms. He was physically active well into later life, demonstrating the playground zipwire to his granddaughters and playing real tennis at the Oxford University Tennis Club.

With his first wife Eileen, née McCall, Michael Alexander had a son and two daughters. She died of cancer in 1986 and he married, secondly, Mary Sheahan, who survives him, along with the children.

Michael Alexander, born May 21 1941, died November 5 2023

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Two pro-Palestine protesters arrested in London after police could not verify translation of banner - Arab News - Translation

LONDON: Two women demonstrating at a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday were arrested for holding a sign containing Arabic writing that police officers could not immediately translate.

The women were asked to translate their sign, which they did, but the Metropolitan Police arrested them after the organization could not verify the translation without an independent translator at the scene, Sky News reported.

In a video which captured the incident, the police asked one of the women to translate her banner, to which she replied: “Who will roll up their sleeves for heaven?”

As the police could not verify her translation through an independent translator, the women were arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offense and taken to a police station for questioning.

The incident took place at a Hizb ut-Tahrir protest at the Egyptian Embassy on South Street in Mayfair, which was attended by hundreds of people.

Tens of thousands of protesters in London took part in a larger march on Saturday that stretched from Park Lane to Whitehall. They demanded a permanent ceasefire a day after the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for prisoners held in Israel amid a four-day temporary truce.

Police said that while the majority of people protested peacefully across the capital, 18 people were arrested, including at least five who were detained on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

Officers handed out leaflets during the march that sought to clarify what would be deemed a criminal offense, after the Metropolitan Police faced pressure from senior government officials to be tougher on alleged displays of antisemitism at the protests.

“Anyone who is racist or incites hatred against any group should expect to be arrested, as should anyone who supports Hamas or any other banned organization,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan.

“We will not tolerate anyone who celebrates or promotes acts of terrorism — such as the killing or kidnap of innocent people — or who spreads hate speech.”

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How a dictionary came to spark outrage among the web's otaku - The Japan Times - Dictionary

On Oct. 23, publisher Sanseido did what it would usually do for an upcoming title: It uploaded the basic details of the book, along with sample pages, to its website. It then issued a press release for it, the Otaku Yogo Jiten Daigenkai, or Otaku Dictionary Daigenkai, compiled by students of Nagoya College and headed by Japanese literature researcher Yoshiko Koide.

By that afternoon, netizens were up in arms.

“There is not even a bare-minimum level of correctness that a publicly published book should have,” said one X user in a post that has been viewed 10,000 times. Another posted, “Publishing such subjective, dōjinshi (self-published magazine)-quality work and calling it a ‘dictionary’ is just going to decrease the credibility of Sanseido so they should really stop.”

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Saturday, November 25, 2023

Genius English Translations – Kali Uchis & KAROL G - Labios Mordidos (English Translation) - Genius - Translation

[Intro: Kali Uchis]
A tremendous killer with a flow to slay
Everyone's watching, but she couldn't care less
KAROL and Kali Uchis
The perfect combo to forget about that pain

[Chorus: Kali Uchis]
Uh (Oh, oh, oh, oh)
The girl is turned on, sticks to me like a tattoo (Like a tattoo)
I guarantee you that nobody is tougher than you (Nobody like you)
May God bless that ass that rubs, uh-uh
Like a tattoo, uh-uh

[Verse 1: Kali Uchis]
Once I turn it on, I never stop, stop (Never stop)
Be careful, I don't talk, I shoot (I shoot)
If you still don't know, let me make it clear, clear (Clear)
Playing with me always comes at a cost
Soft Reggaetón, bitten lips
Diamonds trailing down my belly button
More than one is already lost
A doll from a Tarantino movie (Give it to me, papi)
Go easy, you've been warned (Oh-oh)
It's very likely you'll get addicted to me (Oh-oh)
And if you want what's forbidden (Oh-oh)
I'll give it to you hard, darling, I'll punish you (Oh-oh)

[Chorus: Kali Uchis]
Uh (Oh, oh, oh, oh)
The girl is turned on, sticks to me like a tattoo (Like a tattoo)
I guarantee you that nobody is tougher than you (Nobody like you)
May God bless that ass that rubs, uh-uh
Like a tattoo, uh-uh

[Verse 2: Kali Uchis]
Look, I'm soft like honey and coconut
Always rich and sweet like corn arepas
And just with my look, she got all wet up
Your girlfriend goes crazy when I arrive (I arrive)
Maria, Jenny, Catalina, and Sonia
I love my Brazilians and my Colombians (Prr)
Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, I love my Mexicans
And tonight, I'm a lesbian, you make me feel like it

[Chorus: KAROL G, Kali Uchis]
Uh (Oh, oh, oh, oh; ay, papi)
The girl is turned on, sticks to me like a tattoo (Like a tattoo)
I guarantee you that nobody is tougher than you (Nobody like you; come get it)
May God bless that ass that rubs, uh-uh
Like a tattoo, uh-uh (Real Hard)

[Verse 3: KAROL G]
The baby is aggressive with that cute face (Hey)
She's well-established in her whole neighborhood
Short skirt and gistro leaning out of the sunroof
Her ass leaves everyone on mute
Strawberry gloss to bring it down (Bring it down)
Quietly so that no one knows (Ah)
Show me what you have there for me to try it
I'm already feeling hot, come and join me
Strawberry gloss to bring it down (Bring it down)
Quietly so that no one knows (Ah)
She undressed, and I couldn't stop looking at her
That tattoo on her back leaves me breathless

[Chorus: Kali Uchis, KAROL G, Kali Uchis & KAROL G]
Uh (Oh, oh, oh, oh)
The girl is turned on, sticks to me like a tattoo (Like a tattoo)
I guarantee you that nobody is cooler than you (Nobody like you)
May God bless that ass that rubs, uh-uh
Like a tattoo, uh-uh

[Outro: KAROL G, Kali Uchis]
Hey, mami, how good does that tattoo look on you
How far does it go? Show me, let me see
Jajaja
Re-Re-Reggaetón

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