密歇根新闻广播 缩放还是不缩放

缩放还是不缩放

TWTS: To Zoom¹ or not to Zoom?

Cars, planes, cameras and people have been zooming² around for decades with a lower-case "z."

These days, with so many of us working from home, many of us find ourselves doing a different kind of zooming -- one that may require a capital letter.

The generic³ verb for what we've been doing is video-conferencing. Since the video-conferencing platform Zoom has exploded in popularity during the pandemic, we often find ourselves talking about "Zooming" in the same way that we might "Xerox⁴" a document or "Google" a search term.

What we're talking about is a process linguists⁵ call genericization. That's when a trademarked term or brand name becomes generic. Companies aren't usually fans of this process -- they want people to recognize trademarks⁶ and minimize their generic use in official or published documents. However, we do it anyway.

This process leads to questions over which terms get capitalized. Kleenex, Band-Aid, and Q-Tip are all trademarks that require capitalization, but for how long? Granola, escalator, dumpster, linoleum⁷ and thermos⁸ are all former trademarks that are now considered generic terms.

When used as nouns, style-guides agree that trademarks like “Google” should be capitalized. Verbs are trickier⁹. For example, Merriam Webster offers two variants¹⁰ of the verb form of Google, one with capitalization and one without. The American Heritage Dictionary plays it a little safer and provides the noun "Google," capitalized," and notes the derivative¹¹ verb form.

The Chicago Manuel of Style has offered some guidance on Zoom. For now, it says that the verb “Zooming” should be capitalized when talking about the video-conferencing platform.

The manual also notes that the verb "zoom" can refer to something completely different from video conferencing, and the capital letter helps make that distinction. That way if your co-worker is complaining about flies zooming around their head, you’ll know what they mean.

However, if the flies are in fact "Zooming," you should point out to your co-worker that it's rude to horn in on someone else's video-conference.

1 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

2 zooming   

adj.快速上升的v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去分词 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Zooming and panning are navigational tools for exploring 2D and 3D information. 缩放和平移是浏览二维和三维信息的导航工具。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Panning and zooming, especially when paired together, create navigation difficulties for users. 对于用户来说，平移和缩放一起使用时，产生了更多的导航困难。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

4 xerox   

n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印

参考例句：

• Xerox and Lucent are two more high-tech companies run by women.施乐和朗讯是另外两家由女性经营的大科技公司。
• You cannot take it home,but you can xerox it.你不能把它带回家，但可以复印。

5 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

6 trademarks   

n.（注册）商标( trademark的名词复数 )；（人的行为或衣着的）特征，标记

参考例句：

• Motrin and Nuprin are trademarks of brands of ibuprofen tablets. Nuprin和Motrin均是布洛芬的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many goods in China have the trademarks of a panda. 中国的许多商品都带有熊猫的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 linoleum   

n.油布，油毯

参考例句：

• They mislaid the linoleum.他们把油毡放错了地方。
• Who will lay the linoleum?谁将铺设地板油毡？

8 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

9 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

10 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

11 derivative   

n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的

参考例句：

• His paintings are really quite derivative.他的画实在没有创意。
• Derivative works are far more complicated.派生作品更加复杂。