Sunday, December 3, 2023

Questions of royal family racism reignited by pair of high profile names in Dutch translation of book - NBC News - Translation

Questions of racism within the royal family were reignited after King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were reportedly named in the Dutch version of Omid Scobie’s book "Endgame" as the two people who discussed Prince Archie's skin color, according to the British media.

The alleged discussions are in reference to claims made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021. At the time, Charles held the title of Prince of Wales and Catherine, formerly Kate Middleton, was the Duchess of Cambridge.

Meghan told Winfrey that in the months leading up to Archie's birth, members of the royal family had expressed "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born." She did not reveal names during the interview, and the unknown individuals were dubbed "the royal racists" in the British press and online.

In the English version of Scobie’s book, he alleged that there had been two people involved in the discussions, according to the BBC. He said he knew their identities but could not name them because of legal reasons, the news outlet reported.

Scobie said on BBC Two’s "Newsnight" that he does not know how the names ended up in the Dutch version and that there is a "full investigation" into how it happened. NBC News has not viewed the Dutch or the English copies of the book.

"I'm looking forward to finding out more about it because the English version of the book, the only one I know, the version that I signed off on, that is the book that is out there today," he said. "That's the book that has no names in it."

Buckingham Palace declined to comment Friday, but a royal source said "all options" are being considered.

During the interview with Winfrey, Meghan refused to name the royal family members said to be involved in the discussion, saying it would be very damaging to them. Harry also confirmed that he was questioned about his son's skin tone, but did not identify who made the remarks or when they were made.

In the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Harry said there was a “huge level of unconscious bias” in the royal family.

NBC News has not independently verified that such conversations took place. Shortly after the interview, Buckingham Palace released a statement and said that the issues the couple raised, particularly around race, were "concerning."

The palace said that the family was "saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan," while noting that "some recollections may vary" and the issues will "be addressed by the family privately."

Following the uproar over the book, the Dutch version, titled "Eindstrijd," was temporarily recalled for what publisher Xander Uitgever said was an "error" in the translation. A "rectified edition" would be back in bookstores Dec. 8, the publisher said.

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Oxford's 2023 Word of the Year Is … 'Rizz' - The New York Times - Dictionary

Sorry, Swifties. The Gen Z slang term — derived from “charisma” — went viral this year after the actor Tom Holland claimed to have none.

It’s official. Oxford University Press, the world’s second-oldest academic press and the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has rizz.

Or at least, like the rest of us over a certain age, it’s trying to get some. “Rizz” — Gen Z (or is it Gen Alpha?) slang for “style, charm or attractiveness,” or “the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner” — has been named as Oxford’s 2023 Word of the Year, beating out contenders like situationship, prompt, de-influencing and (yes) Swiftie.

“Rizz” was first recorded in 2022, according to Oxford. But it went viral in June, after the actor Tom Holland, in an interview with Buzzfeed, said: “I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz.”

That spawned a crush of memes, as overall usage surged by a factor of about 15 over the previous year, according to Oxford’s data. Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Languages, the dictionary division, said that this year’s choice reflects the way social media has increased the pace of language change exponentially. Plus, he said, the word simply has … rizz.

“One of the reasons it’s moving from being a niche social media phrase into the mainstream is, it’s just fun to say,” he said. “When it comes off your tongue, there’s a little bit of joy that comes with it.”

Oxford’s Word of the Year is based on usage evidence drawn from its continually updated corpus of more than 22 billion words, gathered from news sources across the English-speaking world. The selection, according to Oxford, is meant “to reflect the ethos, mood or preoccupations” of the preceding year, while also having “potential as a term of lasting cultural significance.”

Usually, Oxford’s lexicographers assemble a shortlist of words or expressions that saw a statistically relevant surge, and then choose a winner. But in recent years, Oxford has turned the selection process into the lexicographical version of a reality show.

Last year, Oxford let the public vote on three finalists. (“Goblin mode” came out on top, because 2022.) This year, the public was invited to cut the shortlist list in half by weighing in on four head-to-head thematic pairings. (Some 30,000 people voted, Oxford said.) Oxford’s team then made the final selection.

One pairing, “Swiftie” vs. “de-influencing,” related to celebrity culture. Others reflected personal characteristics (“rizz” vs. “beige flag,” a characteristic suggesting a partner is boring), the changing world (“prompt” vs. “heat dome”) and relationships (“parasocial” vs. “situationship”).

Grathwohl guessed, correctly, that the contest would ultimately come down to “Swiftie” vs. “rizz.” Which it did, but only after “de-influencing” (the practice of discouraging people from buying particular products, or reducing their consumption more generally) made a strong run at knocking out “Swiftie.”

As for “rizz,” Grathwohl said the word has some interesting features. Usually, shortened forms are taken from the start of a word (app, rhino) or the end (hood, bot). It’s more unusual, but not unheard of, for abbreviated forms to come from the middle (flu, fridge), he said.

He noted that “rizz” also gets used as a verb (as in to “rizz it up,” or charm someone). “As a word expands from one part of speech to another, that’s an indicator it might have some staying power,” he said.

And he had a friendly comment for Holland. “I hate to be a linguistic watchdog, but Tom should know that limited rizz is still rizz,” Grathwohl said. “He’s not being very precise.”

“Swiftie,” for all its overexposure, is also notable, Grathwohl said, for the way it illustrates how “fanalects”(languages that fans develop among themselves) take hold. Many never make it out of various subreddits. But now, with so many more ways to share, they can spread more easily.

In case you’re wondering: No, Taylor Swift and the supposedly rizz-challenged Tom Holland are not known to have officially dated. (Holland is happily in a relationship with Zendaya.) But today, everyone on Earth might feel like they’re in a parasocial situationship with Swift, whether they like it or not.

Still, Grathwohl said that “Swiftie” could transcend Swift herself, and become a more general descriptor of a certain worldview and lifestyle, much like “Deadhead” has come to conjure up more than just fandom for the Grateful Dead.

Still, even the seeming Taylor-fication of everything pales before the power of artificial intelligence. The surge in words like “prompt” (an instruction given to an A.I. program), Grathwohl said, reflects the way specialist vocabulary can enter the mainstream, propelled in this case by the enormous volume of conversation about generative A.I. following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.

So, will our machine overlords ever play a role in selecting the Word of the Year?

“It would not be an illogical step if we’re looking to validate our models,” Grathwohl said. “Large language modules have the ability to crunch data a lot more effectively than humans.”

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9 Star Wars Words That Have Even Made Their Way Into The Dictionary - Screen Rant - Dictionary

Summary

  • Star Wars terminology has become so ingrained in society that words like "parsec," "droid," and "Jedi" have been included in dictionaries.
  • The origins and meanings of these Star Wars terms, such as the definition of "parsec" and the distinction between "droid" and "android," are now officially recognized.
  • The inclusion of Star Wars terms like "lightsaber," "Padawan," and "hyperspace" in dictionaries demonstrates the lasting impact and influence of the franchise on pop culture and language.

For more than 40 years Star Wars terminology has permeated society’s lexicon, so much so that some words have even been added to the dictionary. The original Star Wars trilogy firmly cemented its place in pop culture that by the time the prequel trilogy came out in the late 1990s, phrases, and words from the original trilogy were generally understood by the majority of society. With other pop culture words and phrases being officially included in the dictionary, it’s no wonder that phrases and vernacular used in Star Wars made their way in as well.

Star Wars is known for its wonky, almost Shakespearean-like dialogue, which was only heightened by audiences being introduced to new terms, histories, and galaxies unlike anything audiences had known before. While it’s now hard to imagine a time before terms like “Jedi” and “lightsaber” weren’t in society's lexicon, it’s taken dictionaries a long time to incorporate some of Star Wars’ most famous words into their dictionary. Engines like Google have helped fill in the gap when it comes to needing definitions, but for those who require the old-fashioned dictionary, these Star Wars terms can be found as a standard part of the American and English languages.

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9 One of Han Solo’s Most Famous Words Made The Dictionary

Parsec

In the first Star Wars movie (later retitled A New Hope), Han Solo declared that his ship, the Millennium Falcon, was the only vessel to made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. At the time, it was unclear what a parsec was, as Solo’s line seemed to indicate that it was in fact a measurement of time and not distance. However, it's now been given a standard definition according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a unit of measure for interstellar space that is equal to 3.26 light-years and is the distance to an object having a parallax of one second as seen from points separated by one astronomical unit.”

Solo: A Star Wars Story explained the Kessel Run, revealing this runs through a black hole cluster. Pilots shave distance off the Kessel Run by flying perilously close to the event horizon, and Han flew closer than anyone else. He was only able to escape with the help of engines boosted by coaxium.

8 A New Version of an Older Word

Droid

C-3PO, L3-37, And Mistreated Droids In Star Wars

Star Wars uses the word "droid" to refer to any mechanical being, ranging from mouse droids to C-3PO. The word is actually a shortened form of "android," a robot created to look like a human. Although "droid" has made its way into the dictionary, notably in Merriam-Webster, they tend to use it to refer purely to androids - unlike Star Wars.

7 The Force is Strong With This Noun

Jedi

One of the most famous inventions from George Lucas’ franchise is the idea of Jedi. Jedi, of course are individuals who are Force-sensitive and operate on the light side of the Force. These warriors usually carry lightsabers. Many within the Jedi Order were killed during Order 66, which was originally introduced in Star Wars Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. Both Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary have included the term Jedi into their dictionaries, though the definition changes slightly based on which dictionary is being used.

Merriam-Webster gives a more broad definition, stating that a Jedi is “a person who shows extraordinary skill or expertise in a specified field or endeavor.” However, the Oxford English Dictionary denotes that the term Jedi comes from the Star Wars galaxy and is part of a group of heroic, skilled monks. It’s an interesting difference, with Merriam-Webster seemingly implying that “Jedi” could be applied to just about anyone, whereas Oxford specifies that it’s a Star Wars-derived word.

6 A Jedi’s Greatest Weapon Made the List

Lightsaber

While Merriam-Webster has yet to include the Jedi iconic weapon in their dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary has. The weapon can be found as both the American spelling of “lightsaber” and the British “lightsabre.” It’s been defined by Oxford as a sword-like weapon that has a destructive beam of light instead of a blade. While the definition fails to mention the kyber crystals that power the weapon, it's otherwise pretty spot on.

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Lightsabers in the Star Wars galaxy aren't only blue and red – there are 8 canon lightsaber colors in Star Wars (so far). Here's what they all mean.

5 Apprentices Get a Nod in the Dictionary

Padawan

Ahsoka wields her sabers in her Padawan outfit in The Clone Wars

The Jedi apprentices are known to fans as Padawans. This term has permeated into pop culture, often to refer to someone who is inexperienced, naive, or lacking in knowledge about a subject. "Padawan" has, therefore, made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary - which even gives readers the idea it refers to a Jedi in training. Merriam-Webster's definition fails to include the Jedi origin, simply referring to an inexperienced or naive individual.

4 Interplanetary Travel Gets a Nod

Hyperspace

Lando and Chewie sitting in the Falcon going through hyperspace

Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov invented the concept of hyper-space to allow for interplanetary travel in his Foundation series, but it was George Lucas who popularized it with Star Wars - and shortened it slightly, making it one word, "hyperspace." This has become a staple of science-fiction, which explains why it is also found in Merriam-Webster. There, after a basic definition, the dictionary gives a second one in which hyperspace is called “a fictional space in which extraordinary events happen.” The recent examples used on the website even cite a passage involving Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger going into hyperspace.

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Foundation's Space Travel Compared To Star Wars & Star Trek
In the Foundation TV show, based on Isaac Asimov's books, starships travel through hyper-space. Here's how it compares to Star Wars and Star Trek.

3 Another Weapon Has Found Its Place (Kind of)

Blaster

Din Djarin wields his Amban phase-pulse blaster rifle, or pulse rifle, in The Mandalorian season 1

The term blaster has history dating back to the 1300s, but the kind of handheld weapon used in Star Wars has been a recent addition. Merriam-Webster lists the third definition as “a handheld weapon similar to a gun that fires bolts of energy instead of physical projectiles.” A fairly civilized definition for a weapon that Obi-Wan Kenobi famously called “so uncivilized.”

2 It Lives in Everything (Including the Dictionary)

Force

Sabine uses the Force to push Ezra in the Ahsoka finale

The word “force” has been around for hundreds of years, so while this term wasn’t added to the dictionary after the release of Star Wars, an additional sense of the word was added in 2019. This demarcates that within Star Wars Force is capitalized, signifying its mystical origins. While not the most exciting entry on this list, it’s still fun to see.

1 These Are The Words You’re Looking For

Jedi Mind Trick

Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope

The famous trick originally used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope has gotten its very own entry in the dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a Jedi mind trick as “a telepathic technique of psychological manipulation used by the Jedi." In common usage, a Jedi mind trick refers to someone who has been put under the spell of another. While the Jedi don’t use spells, it is still a fair comparison, especially for people unfamiliar with the term and its origins.

Star Wars is approaching its 50th anniversary in just a few short years, and it's amazing to see how this franchise has effected everyday life. Not only has the Star Wars impacted its fans, but it has permeated society as a whole, even people who may have never seen the movies know what a lightsaber is. As the galaxy continues to expand and evolve, it's likely that more and more words that originated in Star Wars will be added to dictionaries, and it'll be exciting to see what comes next.

  • Star Wars Franchise Poster
    Star Wars
    Created by:
    George Lucas
    First Film:
    Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
    Cast:
    Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson, Lars Mikkelsen, Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Frank Oz, Pedro Pascal
    TV Show(s):
    The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Lando, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars Resistance, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, Star Wars: Visions
    Movie(s):
    Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, Star Wars: New Jedi Order
    Character(s):
    Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, Rey Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Emperor Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Grand Inquisitor, Reva (The Third Sister), The Fifth Brother, The Seventh Sister, The Eighth Brother, Yoda, Din Djarin, Grogu
    Video Game(s):
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords, Star Wars: Battlefront, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed , Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

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'Endgame' Translator: Royals' Names 'Were There in Black and White' - The Daily Beast - Translation

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'Endgame' Translator: Royals' Names 'Were There in Black and White'  The Daily Beast

Is your rizz authentic? New Yorkers weigh in on the word of the year. - Gothamist - Dictionary

This year, 650 new words were added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, including “jorts,” “grammable” and “rizz.”

If you have a teenager, you know what “rizz” means. (And if you don’t, it means “romantic appeal or charisma,” according to the dictionary.)

But what word captures 2023? It’s been a year in which artificial intelligence exploded into the mainstream, union workers across industries went on strike, and two female musicians – Taylor Swift and Beyoncé – bolstered an entire economy.

According to Merriam-Webster, the word of 2023 is “authentic.”

"Although clearly a desirable quality, ‘authentic’ is hard to define and subject to debate, two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary," the company said in its announcement of the word of the year.

Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, Peter Sokolowski, joined Alison Stewart on a recent episode of “All of It” to discuss how the dictionary chose the word of the year, what it tells us about this moment, and some words that quite didn't make the cut.

During their conversation, New Yorkers called in with some of their picks for the word that best describes 2023.

You can hear their whole discussion here; an edited version is below.

Stewart: Why do you think “authentic” is a difficult concept to define?

Sokolowski: Abstract ideas are harder to define than concrete words. A definition for chair or table is interesting but when you're talking about ideas, it gets a little bit more complicated.

However, the two definitions that count for “authentic” are refreshingly simple. The first sense is “not false or imitation.” And sense two is: “true to one's own personality, spirit, or character.”

Nice, short definitions for a word that really encapsulates a big idea.

How do you select the word of the year?

It comes from when we first put the dictionary online in 1996. For the first time, we could see which words sent people to the dictionary.

We could see which words were being looked up and of course, we could also see when they were being looked up.

Initially, we saw a list of static words. It looked like an SAT list – words like “integrity” and “paradigm,” “ubiquitous,” “conundrum” and even “authentic.” Words like “democracy” and “fascism” were also looked up every day regardless of the news.

Then something happened and it changed the way we view our data. In 1997, the first news event that was widely shared online was the death of Princess Diana, and we saw the lookups change dramatically.

We saw initially the word “paparazzi,” which was, of course, associated with her death, and it's a hard word to spell. Are there two R's? Are there two Z's?

The second-most-looked-up word was “princess,” and that shows us two different models of what sends people to the dictionary.

The word “princess” is, obviously, a common word. It's not particularly hard to spell or pronounce and yet I think people were seeking a lot of information about that word that I would categorize as encyclopedic.

Wondering if there are two R's in paparazzi … that's a lexical question. That's about the mechanics of the word. If you want to know about princess … Are you born a princess? Does a princess automatically become a queen? Is a princess higher than a duchess?

Those are what I would call encyclopedic questions. In other words, they're about the use of the word in the culture and not the word itself.

I think that's what sent people to the dictionary in the case of “princess.”

We have these two kinds of models, and “authentic” is really the former. It simply rose to the top of our data.

We have 100 million page views per month at our website. Although this word is not associated with a single story in the way that the word “vaccine” was, for example, in 2021, we do see that several stories connected to it.

ChatGPT, AI, I have to imagine.

Absolutely. AI's been in the news every single week of 2023. It's been a huge story and, as you know, [Nov. 30] was the anniversary of the launch of ChatGPT.

The number of think pieces and the shock to the academic world and the ideas about plagiarism and copyright — and to say nothing of the concerns of AI replacing writers or actors or their images. This has been a big story, and “authentic” has become the counterpoint to AI.

Let's talk to Catherine from New Rochelle.

Catherine: Hi, Alison. I am in the season of tween. For me, my word of the year is “slay.”

Could you use it in a sentence as your tweens do?

Catherine: Taylor Swift slays.

Well, done. We actually had someone text us: "I don't know if it's already in the dictionary, but the word of the year should be ‘Swiftie.’"

Well, it's one of those words that will probably become an entry, and absolutely, if a word is used frequently by many people, then it goes into the dictionary.

We're not here to judge the language, we're not the police, we're not the Supreme Court of language. We're here to report on the language.

Charlotte is calling in from Larchmont. Hi, Charlotte.

Charlotte: I was trying to think about what I would say for my word of the year, and what kept coming up is that so many different things have happened this year. The highest of highs, the lowest of lows, so the word that came to mind was “diametric” or “divergent.”

Just that we could go from a year where there were so many wins in terms of yes, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, these amazing emotional highs, these successes for unions. Then there's the horrible realities of the wars that we're living through and the conflicts and the political climate. I feel like we're living in a very diametric time.

Here’s Richard from Jersey City.

Richard: It's not my favorite word of the year. It's a word I actually have begun to hate: “curated.” A curator is someone who organizes, for example, a museum exhibition. They deal with people about what goes in it.

There's a lot more work than picking things out. One of the ads that appears on your air, for example, talks about a hand-curated playlist, which is physically impossible.

Richard, thank you. Peter, does “curated” fall in the category of words that have become used in such a way that they change meaning?

Oh, absolutely. He speaks to a classic concern and it's one that I've noticed as well. Language changes just fast enough that we notice, but the problem is — almost as a corollary to that — we nearly always hate the changes that we notice.

That's because you grew up and language became a habit. Language is a system, language is organized.

The fact is Richard is correct that we do not yet have this new meaning of “curate,” which simply means “to organize in an idiosyncratic way, to organize in a personal way.” Yet that term is used so frequently in that meaning.

The fact is language is changing.

Now, here's the thing. That does not mean you have to use that word in that way. You can always hold the line for yourself.

I'm very curious about slang because I have a 15-year-old. I think I understood what he and his friends were saying after their game yesterday. There’s one word which I just love: “Rizz,” R-I-Z-Z. I love the creativity behind it.

It's a terrific word. It's not a word that I use myself. There's something important about informal language and slang, which is to say that dictionaries have a legacy of recording words that have evidence. The evidence comes in printed and published form.

For 400 years, the gold standard for dictionaries was: Was it used in print? Did Shakespeare use it? Was it used in the New York Times? Because we can use that print, that published evidence as our reference and as our research.

Now, of course, it's true that a lot of informal language is actually texted or written or put on Facebook or Twitter before anyone even hears it spoken out loud. Whereas slang used to be only spoken and not written.

We are entering this phase of informal language, which is now much more recorded and easier for us to represent. “Rizz” is now in the dictionary. The definition: “romantic appeal or charm.” The word has a little bit of a rhyme with charisma, and it's used a little bit in that meaning, and that's the way I think of it.

That's the way it was explained to me, that “rizz” is the “rizz” of charisma. What were some of the runners-up to “authentic” as the word of the year?

Connected to “authentic,” of course, is the word “deepfake.” This is a new word. It just came into the dictionary a few years ago.

This idea that we may not be seeing with our own eyes something that actually took place or hearing something that someone actually said. We needed a name for this deep kind of deception. Deepfake is one of them.

Another one is the word “dystopian,” which connected to a few different stories.

One of them is AI and a future in which robots might be able to think for themselves, but also in which careers and jobs would be taken away by AI.

Also dystopian, of course, and connects to climate change are the fires in Canada and in Hawaii.

The third reason for “dystopian” is it's an unusual word that is so serious in these contexts, but it's also a category of entertainment.

We had "The Last of Us," for example, which was always described as a dystopian series. This is a term that has a great amount of flexibility and it was used in those three enormous stories that were published a lot this year.

Let's talk to Carol calling in from Paramus who has a question. Carol, thank you for calling "All Of It."

Carol: Oh, sure. Glad to be here. I keep seeing on social media and hearing everyone saying something is “transformative,” when they mean “transformational.” What is with that?

Sokolowski: That's the thing about English. It’s bizarrely flexible. Any noun in English can become a verb, which is not true in other languages. Of course, we have these adjectives that used to be in their lanes and then they crossed their lanes.

If you work with words, you always come back to this fact, which is that language never stays still. It's always changing. Now, at the same time, there are standards. There is such a thing as standard English. There are standards that if you want to function academically and professionally, you have to know the rules before you break them.

Are there any other words that you wanted to shout out to us that you think are particularly interesting or illuminating or might send somebody off in the day with something to think about?

We had a couple of words from the news. The word “implode” from the submersible that was exploring the Titanic wreckage, and the word “coronation,” which had a huge spike on the day where the first king of England was crowned in 86 years.

The fact is the dictionary is a measure of the news, but it's really truly a measure of the language. What we can do with our data is recognize which moments are captured by a specific word. That's something that I find is ceaselessly interesting.

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Saturday, December 2, 2023

Dutch version of Omid Scobie book pulled over race row 'error' - BBC - Translation

Omid Scobie

The Dutch edition of Omid Scobie's controversial royal book Endgame has been withdrawn from sale, with its publishers blaming a translation error.

It appeared to include the name of a Royal Family member alleged to have asked questions about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan's baby.

"An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified," the publishers said.

The book, published on Tuesday, has been very critical of the Royal Family.

There has been confusion over its launch in the Netherlands, with the publishers Xander Uitgevers saying it was "temporarily withdrawing the book", entitled Eindstrijd in the Dutch version.

  • Royal book fails to match drama of Spare
  • Endgame author says Sussexes not involved
  • Prince Harry calls King for 75th birthday

At issue seems to be the description of the racism row that followed Prince Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey, where the couple talked of facing questions about the skin colour of the baby they were expecting.

Prince Harry and Meghan had declined to name the member of the Royal Family raising this issue - and in the English edition of the book, Mr Scobie had claimed that there had been two people involved.

He claimed to know their identities but had said for legal reasons he wouldn't disclose them.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey
Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions / CBS

The Dutch edition includes a name - but the book's publisher is now blaming an embarrassing mistake in the translation of this sensitive section, which has meant the new title being removed from the bookshelves.

The response of the book's author Mr Scobie seems to suggest the Dutch text published in error was not an early draft nor previous version.

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

"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," he said.

While the publishers have highlighted a problem in the translation, there seems to be an additional line in the Dutch text. But it is unclear how this has been mistakenly added.

Dutch version of Endgame

The book, receiving mixed reviews, presents unflattering portraits of several of the Royal Family, including Prince William and Catherine and King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The author has been seen as having links to Prince Harry and Meghan and the new book appeared to be more sympathetic to the position of the California-based couple and their decision to move from the UK to the US.

Buckingham Palace has declined to respond to the book's claims or the removal of the Dutch edition, and representatives of Prince Harry and Meghan have also not commented.

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Related Topics

  • UK Royal Family
  • Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
  • Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

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Thursday, November 30, 2023

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

DictionaryGetty Images

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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