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Characters perform on stage at "The Simpsons" Panel during the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego, California, July 2008. "Meh", a word which indicates a lack of interest or enthusiasm, became the latest addition to the Collins English Dictionary
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"Meh", a word which indicates a lack of interest or enthusiasm, became the latest addition to the Collins English Dictionary on Monday.
The word, which beat hundreds of other suggestions from members of the public, will feature in the 30th anniversary edition of the dictionary, which is to be published next year.
Though the word apparently originates from North America, Collins said it was now widely used on the Internet, and was increasingly seen in British spoken English.
The dictionary entry for "meh" will say it can be used as an interjection to indicate indifference or boredom, as an adjective to describe something as boring or mediocre, or to show an individual is apathetic or unimpressed.
The word was popularized by the US comedy animation series "The Simpsons", where characters Bart and Lisa use it to express indifference when their father Homer suggests a day trip.
It was submitted by Erin Whyte from Nottingham, central England, and a panel of Collins language experts singled it out from the hundreds of other submissions because of its frequency of use in modern English.
"This is a new interjection from the US that seems to have inveigled its way into common speech over here," said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.
"It shows people are increasingly writing in a register somewhere in between spoken and written English."
Other words submitted to Collins's campaign -- which was launched in June and called on members of the public to suggest words they used in everyday English -- were jargonaut (a fan of jargon); frenemy (an enemy disguised as a friend) and huggles (a hybrid of hugs and snuggles).
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(Agencies)
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表示沒興趣或無聊的“Meh”一詞于本周一成為《柯林斯英語字典》中的新成員。
“Meh”從數百個由公眾提名的候選詞中脫穎而出，將收錄至將于明年出版的《柯林斯英語字典》30周年紀念版中。
盡管該詞最初起源于北美，但柯林斯字典稱，目前該詞在網上十分流行，而且在英國人日常口語中的使用頻率也越來越高。
《柯林斯英語字典》對“meh”一詞的解釋是：可用作感嘆詞或形容詞，表示感到無聊或沒興趣；或形容某事沒意思或某人缺乏興趣、冷淡。
“Meh”一詞的流行源于美國喜劇動畫片《辛普森一家》，片中的巴特和莉莎對爸爸霍莫一日游的提議表示不感興趣時，就用了這個詞。
該詞由來自英格蘭中部諾丁漢的艾林?懷特提交。經柯林斯字典語言專家評審組的評定，鑒于該詞在現代英語中的使用頻率較高，所以最終從幾百個候選詞中勝出。
柯林斯字典內容部負責人考瑪克?麥克歐文說：“來自美國的一個新潮詞進入了我們的日常用語。”
“這說明，現在人們使用的書面語越來越口語化。”
這項由柯林斯字典發起的新詞評選活動于今年6月啟動，主要面向公眾征集他們在日常生活中經常使用的一些新詞語。其它提交的新詞包括jargonaut（愛用術語的人）、frenemy（偽善朋友）和huggles（hugs 和snuggles的合成詞）等。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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