词汇大师-- No Need to Freak Out About Some Idioms

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble. This week on WORDMASTER: we're back with A. C. Kemp from slangcity.com. She calls it the online home of American slang¹.
RS: We're talking about frequently used terms that her international students in her classroom might consider slang. A. C. Kemp teaches English at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she did a computer analysis for WORDMASTER on slang found in scripts from some popular TV shows and movies.
AA: "The first five you found most frequently used in these scripts were 'dude,' 'cool,' 'hot' or 'hotty,' 'whatever' and 'chick.' What comes after those? What's the next five?"

　　AC KEMP: "The next one is 'freak' and 'freak out,' meaning to be very upset or worried. After that was the very typical word, 'buddy²,' to mean friend, and then, way down at number eight, 'awesome³.' It was really huge in the eighties, awesome, and it's still used, but I think it's perhaps used less than it was.
"But what's interesting is that the next word on the list was one that I thought was kind of old fashioned, which was 'nuts,' meaning crazy or insane⁴. And I tend to think of that as an old fashioned word, but I found it in a lot of different TV shows and movies."
AA: "Well, keep going."
RS: "No, there's only one more."
AC KEMP: "Well, there was a tie for the last one, and they both have very similar meanings, and both of them are a little bit vulgar⁵ but not too much. One of them is 'crap,' to mean something that's inferior⁶ quality, and the other one, which is used by teenagers all the time, is the expression 'it sucks,' to mean it's bad. And those were the last on my list of ten."
RS: "You know, you said this list surprised you. I was really surprised after hearing all the words that it surprised you, because the words seemed [like] words that I would associate with slang words that I hear all the time. Maybe it's because I live with a teenager."
AC KEMP: "I think what surprised me in particular was dude and chick being so popular, because I think that's changed in the last ten years. I think those are used more now than they were in, say, the nineties."
AA: "Now, one thing, getting back to, briefly⁷, we were talking about the terms, idiomatic⁸ terms used as substitutes for more formal terms. What sort of advice do you give your students in terms of knowing when to use the more casual term or when to use the more formal term?"
AC KEMP: "Well, certainly in writing, you're going to use the more formal terms. But idioms, a lot of my students are surprised that they are so common, because they'll say, well, this is just something that you say to your friends when you're in an informal situation. And I'll say, well, listen to a politician's speech or listen to people on an interview show like, say, 'Oprah' and you'll find that people use these words even in more formal contexts⁹, they'll use idioms.
"And so I think in most contexts you can use those. I mean, maybe not slang words. Certainly you wouldn't want to use 'dude' in a formal speech. But expressions like 'kick out' or 'screw up,' you do hear those. Even somebody like Bill Clinton will use those in a speech."
RS: "So do you suggest that your students listen to television, radio, all kinds of different media that they can, and kind of track certain words that you as a teacher may or may not highlight?"
AC KEMP: "Well, I think that depending on your situation, certainly if you have access to speak to a lot of Americans, that's probably the best way to learn a lot of slang words. But for a lot of people, they don't have that chance and so listening to TV or radio or watching movies is a good way to find those words. And sort of keeping a little notebook of things that you hear a lot can be a useful way to add those words to your vocabulary."
AA: A. C. Kemp is a lecturer in English language studies at M.I.T. and runs the Web site slangcity.com. We'll post her top 10 list, along with her sources, at voanews.com/wordmaster.
RS: And that's it for WORDMASTER this week. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.
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A. C. Kemp's list of most common slang words found in popular television shows and movies, in order of frequency:
1. Dude (man)
2. Cool (great)
3. Hot and hottie (sexy/sexy person)
4. Whatever ("I don't care"/"It doesn't matter to me")
5. Chick (woman or girl)
6. Freak/freak out (be upset)
7. Buddy (friend)
8. Awesome (great)
9. Nuts (crazy/insane)
10. Tie: Crap (something of inferior quality) and "it sucks" (it鈥檚 bad)
 

1 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。

2 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

3 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

4 insane   

adj.蠢极的，荒唐的，精神错乱的，疯狂的

参考例句：

• Insane people are sometimes dangerous.精神病人有时非常危险。
• The letter made her insane with jealousy.那封信使她妒忌得发疯。

5 vulgar   

adj.粗野的，下流的，庸俗的，粗俗的

参考例句：

• His language is a bit vulgar at times.他说话有时有点粗俗。
• His vulgar manners shocked everyone.他粗俗的举止使大家大为吃惊。

6 inferior   

adj.劣等的，次的，下级的；n.下级，下属

参考例句：

• These oranges are inferior to those I bought last week.这些桔子没我上个周买的好。
• They sell inferior goods at that store.那家商店卖劣等货。

7 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

8 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

9 contexts   

上下文( context的名词复数 )； 背景； 投资环境； 设备场境

参考例句：

• Even seemingly innocuous words are offensive in certain contexts. 甚至看似毫无恶意的言辞在某些语境下都会引起冒犯。
• Handheld devices are used in a variety of specific contexts. 手持设备会用在各种各样的具体情境下。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓