词汇大师-- More to a 'Buck' and Less to a 'Bromance'

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: we talk with Pam Munro, a linguistics¹ professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, about the latest slang on campus. It's in U.C.L.A. Slang, a dictionary that she and her students have published every four years for the last two decades.
The first entry in the new sixth edition -- well, the first one we can say on the radio -- is a buck². A buck is usually the term for one dollar, but here it means one hundred dollars.

　　PAM MUNRO: "Yeah, that one is really strange but it does illustrate³ a common process about slang, that slang tends toward hyperbole on things like that. And so there are a hundred cents in a dollar, and so why not use the term 'a buck' for a hundred dollars rather than a hundred cents?"
AA: "Well, the -- "
PAM MUNRO: "But that one is a completely new word."
AA: "If I hear someone saying a buck I'll have to make sure they don't mean a hundred dollars. But you know there are a few terms that I notice seem to come from hip-hop."
PAM MUNRO: "Yes."
AA: "Why don't you give me some examples of those."
PAM MUNRO: "There are some words from African-American English that are kind of well known as African-American English, words like homeboy and homegirl -- "
AA: "Meaning friend."
PAM MUNRO: "Meaning a friend. And it used to mean a fellow member of your gang. But now people, students with no connections to the black community, use this as just a word that means friend."
AA: "And then, well like cheddar, which is a term meaning money also, right?"
PAM MUNRO: "Cheddar means money."
AA: "It's not just cheese."
PAM MUNRO: "Well, it derived⁴ from cheese. So cheese is an earlier term meaning money that's been around for quite some time. And shortly after people were saying cheese, there were people who thought that it would be sort of cute to replace this by cheddar. I first recorded cheese in two thousand two, and cheddar a year later, so it is a later term. Cheddar is another type of cheese, so you might as well say cheddar for money too."
AA: "Tell me what an awkward turtle is?"
PAM MUNRO: "Awkward turtle is a comment that you make during an awkward pause or an awkward moment in the conversation. So if somebody says something embarrassing or that reveals that they're giving out information that they shouldn't, or they ask about something that is very taboo⁵ sort of to talk about, you can say awkward turtle -- maybe in an undertone to your friends.
"And you can also make an awkward turtle gesture, which consists of putting the palm of one hand on the top of the back of the other hand, and so this leaves your thumb and little finger able to stick out on both sides, and you wiggle them, sort of like turtle feet. The way it's been explained to me is that people think of this as a turtle upside down. I mean, that is an awkward turtle."
AA: "Well, you know, lately there've been a lot of terms -- in fact, there's even a dictionary devoted⁶ to this now, to this idea of bro terms."
PAM MUNRO: "Right. The most widely used one that is current in a lot of media these days is bromance. A bromance is a very close platonic⁷ friendship, totally non-sexual, between two heterosexual male friends. But we do have other ones. So one that I had not heard before is brolition. So a brolition -- which is a combination of bro and coalition⁸ -- is a big group of guys."
AA: "I'd never heard that one."
PAM MUNRO: "Well, that was new to me this year also. Then we have various other words that sort of go into this. So a brother from another mother is a close male friend who isn't your own brother but you sort of think of him as a brother. And then there's a term for women who feel a close friendship with a girl who's not their sister. They can call her a sister from another mister."
AA: Next week, we'll talk again with linguistics professor Pam Munro from the University of California, Los Angeles. She's the editor of U.C.L.A. Slang 6, the latest edition of a dictionary compiled by a team of students from terms used on campus. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. Archives are at voanews.com/wordmaster. I'm Avi Arditti.

1 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

2 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

3 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

4 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

6 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

7 platonic   

adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的

参考例句：

• Their friendship is based on platonic love.他们的友情是基于柏拉图式的爱情。
• Can Platonic love really exist in real life?柏拉图式的爱情，在现实世界里到底可能吗？

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。