英语语法：98 Went Missing

Grammar Girl here.

Everyone else seems to be announcing a word of the year, so I've decided¹ to name a pet peeve² of the year.

After a non-scientific study of the messages I get from listeners, I've determined³ the pet peeve of 2008 is the phrase went missing. Boy, do a lot of you hate that phrase! Before I talk about went missing, here's a fun review of some of the other words of the year.

W00t

In a spurt⁴ of silliness, Merriam-Webster named w00t the Word of the Year. Yes, that's w00t spelled w-0-0-t, with zeros where the o's should be, and it's an interjection expressing joy making it similar to the word yay. According to Merriam-Webster, w00t “first became popular in competitive online gaming forums⁵ as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker⁶ language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters.” It's an odd choice for word of the year, but I confess I did shout, “W00t,” when I finished the final version of my Grammar Girl book manuscript a couple of weeks ago, and my editor was polite enough to “W00t,” back at me.

Grass Station

In other word-of-the-year news, Webster's Word of the Year winner was grass station, which they define as a pun on the word gas station. According to Webster's, “grass station refers to a theoretical fill-up spot in the not-too-distant future. It reflects America's growing love affair with hybrid⁷ cars and vegetable-based fuels, including ethanol and biomass fuels—some of which are actually distilled⁸ from plain old grass.”

Locavore

Finally, the new Oxford⁹ American Dictionary named locavore as Word of the Year. Back in July, Chef Mark from the Remarkable¹⁰ Palate podcast called out locavore as his favorite neologism for a Grammar Girl podcast about new words. Locavores are people who eat only food that is grown or produced within 100 miles of their home.

Tase

Oxford named the verb tase as a runner up for the award, and I did a show about verbifying taser into tasein September, so I'm feeling very in tune¹¹ with the Oxford American Dictionary this week. At the suggestion of a listener named Elliot I made a fun t-shirt to go with the tase episode*. It reads “Don't verbify me, bro,” and it's available at the Grammar Girl website (short sleeve blue, short sleeve red, long sleeve black).

Went Missing

And now, on to the Grammar Girl Pet Peeve of 2008: went missing.

Here's an example of one of the many messages I received last year:

I want to complain about the use of poor grammar in our news media, particularly the news people's use of the term went missing for disappeared. Where in the world went missing came from, who knows, but they use it all the time, and it just grates on my nerves. So if you have any pull with these people, Mignon, please do something. Thank you!

Well, I don't know if I have much pull with the news media, but if any reporters are listening, here's the deal: Went missing actually isn't wrong, but it annoys a lot of Americans, so you might want to say missing or disappeared every once in a while.

The reason went missing sounds strange to Americans is that it's a British idiom (1, 2). I've seen sources placing the first use of went missing as far back as 1944 (3), but my version of the Oxford English Dictionary places the first use in a 1958 book by British writer Norman Franks (4). The OED places gone missing in the same category as the phrase go native, which is used to describe a turn to or relapse into savagery¹² or heathenism. I've also heard the term go native used to describe the transition a newcomer to Washington D.C. undergoes as he or she accepts the government bureaucracy, which I suppose could be considered turning to savagery or heathenism.

One thing I realized while researching went missing and its partner go missing, is that go is quite a versatile¹³ verb. The OED includes nearly 100 definitions, most of which have multiple sub-definitions. A couple of other idioms that use the word go include go begging to mean “unfilled” or “available,” as in Jobs went begging; and go over to mean “to gain acceptance,” as in They hope the play goes over well.

It's possible that this British term has gained footing in the American media because of the high-profile disappearance¹⁴ of British girl Madeline McCann in May 2007. The McCann story received wall-to-wall news coverage¹⁵ for weeks, and this is just speculation¹⁶, but it may be that the constant reporting by British journalists about how the girl “went missing” subtly influenced American reporters to adopt the term.

Administrative¹⁷ Stuff

So, I hope you enjoyed the first Grammar Girl pet peeve of the year. Next year I'll select a few of the top contenders and run a poll. Maybe we'll caucus¹⁸. Just kidding.

Money Girl has a great episode this week to help you keep your financial resolutions. You can find that show and all the other great Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts at iTunes or QuickAndDirtyTips.com.

If you'd  like to submit a question to the show, you can e-mail it to......or leave a message on the voicemail line at 206-338-4475.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

 

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 peeve   

v.气恼，怨恨；n.麻烦的事物，怨恨

参考例句：

• She was in a peeve over it.她对这很气恼。
• She was very peeved about being left out.她为被遗漏而恼怒。

3 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

4 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

5 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

6 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

7 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

8 distilled   

adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

10 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

11 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

12 savagery   

n.野性

参考例句：

• The police were shocked by the savagery of the attacks.警察对这些惨无人道的袭击感到震惊。
• They threw away their advantage by their savagery to the black population.他们因为野蛮对待黑人居民而丧失了自己的有利地位。

13 versatile   

adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的

参考例句：

• A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
• He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。

14 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

15 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

16 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

17 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

18 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。