نوع مطلب :مطالب مفید درسی و مقالات ،

New words in OALD- Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

part one

Lifestyle

Here are some of the new words in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th edition. Click on any of the words to find out what they mean.

The demographics say it all. We're all in with the in-crowd - but is that Hooray Henrys, Valley Girls, crusties or chavs? Look at these words to get with the programme.

• A-list: used to describe the group of people who are considered to be the most famous, successful or important
• Botox™: a substance that makes muscles relax. It is sometimes injected into the skin around somebody's eyes to remove lines and make the skin look younger.
• futurology: the study of how people will live in the future
• ladette: a young woman who enjoys drinking alcohol, sport or other activities usually considered to be typical of young men
• life coach: a person who is employed by somebody to give them advice about how to achieve the things they want in their life and work
• mwah: used to represent the sound that some people make when they kiss somebody on the cheek
• nip and tuck: (especially North American English) = neck and neck
• soccer mom: a mother who spends a lot of time taking her children to activities such as sports and music lessons, used as a way of referring to a typical mother from the middle classes
• speed dating: meeting people at an event organized for single people who want to begin a romantic relationship, where you are allowed to spend only a few minutes talking to one person before you have to move on to meet the next person
• trophy wife: a young attractive woman who is married to an older man and thought of as a trophy (= something that shows that you are successful and impresses other people)
• twenty-four seven: twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week (used to mean ‘all the time’)
• wow factor: the quality something has of being very impressive or surprising to people

Fashion

Whether your style is bling-bling or radical chic, if you're fashion-forward you'll want to shop till you drop. Just make sure you don't take the dress code too far and end up a fashion victim. This selection of new fashion vocabulary may come in handy.

• aloha shirt: Hawaiian shirt
• combats: = cargo pants

fashionista: (used especially in newspapers) a fashion designer, or a person who is always dressed in a fashionable way

•  
• hoody: a jacket or a sweatshirt with a hood
• khanga: a large piece of light cloth with designs printed on it and worn by women around the waist and legs or over the head and shoulders
• kitten heels: small thin curved heels on women's shoes
• octopus trousers: trousers/pants which have many strips of material hanging from them
• palazzo pants: women's trousers/pants with wide loose legs
• pashmina: a long piece of cloth made of fine soft wool from a type of goat and worn by a woman around the shoulders
• personal shopper : a person whose job is to help somebody else buy things, either by going with them around a shop/store or by doing their shopping for them
• tankini: a swimsuit in two pieces, consisting of a short top without sleeves and the bottom half of a bikini
• wraparounds: a pair of sunglasses that fit closely and curve round the sides of the head

Computing

If you know the difference between an MPEG and a JPEG, you're no newbie. But if you haven't joined the digerati yet, here are some words to help you.

• bloatware: programs which use too much memory
• blog: (also weblog)bitácora a website where a person writes regularly about recent events or topics that interest them, usually with photos and links to other websites that they find interesting
• cybersquatting: the illegal activity of buying and officially recording an address on the Internet that is the name of an existing company or a well-known person, with the intention of selling it to the owner in order to make money
• docking station: a device to which a laptop computer can be connected so that it can be used like a desktop computer
• drag-and-drop: relating to the moving of icons, etc. on a screen using the mouse
• emoticon: a short set of keyboard symbols that represents the expression on somebody's face, used in email, etc. to show the feelings of the person sending the message. For example :-) represents a smiling face (when you look at it sideways).
• mouse potato: a person who spends too much time using a computer
• netiquette: the rules of correct or polite behaviour among people using the Internet
• phishing: the activity of tricking people by getting them to give their identity, bank account numbers, etc. over the Internet or by email, and then using these to steal money from them
• radio button: a small circle that you click on in order to make a particular choice. The radio button is then marked with a dot to show that it has been selected.
• Wi-Fi: the abbreviation for ‘wireless fidelity’ (a system for sending data over computer networks using radio waves instead of wires)
• worm: 1 [countable] a long thin creature with no bones or legs, that lives in soilbirds looking for worms see also earthworm, lugworm2 worms [plural] long thin creatures that live inside the bodies of humans or animals and can cause illnessThe dog has worms. see also hookworm, tapeworm3 [countable] the young form of an insect when it looks like a short wormThis apple is full of worms. see also glow-worm, silkworm, woodworm4 [countable] (computing) a computer program that is a type of virus and that spreads across a network by copying itself5 [countable, usually singular] (informal, disapproving) a person you do not like or respect, especially because they have a weak character and do not behave well towards other people

Idioms

the worm will turn

(saying) a person who is normally quiet and does not complain will protest when the situation becomes too hard to bear

Home entertainment

What do you watch on your plasma TV? Do you channel-hop, or are you set up for home cinema? Or do you prefer to listen to music on the move on your MP3 player? Things change quickly nowadays, so these words will help you find your way around the world of consumer electronics.

• docusoap: a television programme about the lives of real people, presented as entertainment  
• dramedy: a television programme that is intended to be both humorous and serious
• letterbox: [uncountable] = widescreen
• Palmcorder™: a small camcorder (= video camera that records pictures and sound) that can be held in the palm of one hand
• reality TV: television shows that are based on real people (not actors) in real situations, presented as entertainment
• shock jock: a disc jockey on a radio show who deliberately expresses opinions or uses language that many people find offensive
• surround sound: a system for reproducing sound using several speakers (= the pieces of equipment that the sound comes out of) placed around the person listening in order to produce a more realistic sound
• Trekkie: a person who is very keen on following the television science fiction series Star Trek. Serious Trekkies attend special conferences to share their enthusiasm and discuss the series in great detail.
• talk radio: radio programmes in which somebody discusses a particular subject with people who telephone the radio station to give their opinions
• veejay: video jockey
• video diary: a series of video recordings made by somebody over a period of time, in which they record their experiences, thoughts and feelings

widescreen: a way of presenting images on television with the width a lot greater than the height

Synonym

• letterbox