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Character of 2015


Shelley

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It has been announced that the character of 2015 is 廉 meaning incorruptibility.

 

There is a list of characters and words for 2015. The link below has the detail.

 

I find it interesting that this happens, do we have a word of the year in English or does any other country release such a list? I am aware the French choose loan words and similar to be admitted to the French language but I don't know if its the same thing.

 

http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/12/23/china-releases-top-characters-and-words-of-2015

 

What would your character of 2015 be? and why?

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Dutch (or just the Netherlands?) has a Word of the Year. This year it was 'sjoemelsoftware', which can be loosely translated as 'cheating software' and refers to the software Volkswagen used to cheat. The Word of the Year is usually a new word that has been coined for something that was prominent in the news in that year.

 

And now that I look it up I find that Belgium has its own Word of the Year and it's much nicer: 'kraamkost', defined as 'meal as a gift to a mother who just gave birth and her family'. (Seems a bit of an old-fashioned concept though, isn't feeding the family while mom is recovering the father's job?)

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Interesting, another thing I have learnt about because I am learning chinese that isn't actually chinese.

 

I was unaware of the Word of year in any language.

 

Somehow chinese seems to lend itself to something like this, as it encompasses not only meaning but the beauty and skill of the calligraphy.

 

I will have to explore further.

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In Germany, it's similar to the Netherlands. The word of the year 2015, chosen by some linguistic society, is Flüchtlinge (refugees). No wonder, as it is in the news on a daily basis. Austria and Switzerland have their own words of the year. There's even a Jugendwort des Jahres, a "youth word of the year". In 2015, it's Smombie, a combination of Smartphone and Zombie (so sb who doesn't take notice of anything but his phone). I'm afraid I have never heard of it before.... Then, there also is the Unwort des Jahres, the most impossible or ill-used word of the year. It will only be announced in January, but last year's word was Lügenpresse, "the lying (as in to tell a lie) media / press. The word is frequently used by extreme rightists who think that media reports on them or on topics they are interested in are all lies.

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