Daniel Peart stands next to a 'for sale' sign in front of his home in Poway, Calif., in this March 22, 2007
 
Used to describe a risky¹ loan, 'subprime' has been chosen as the Word of the Year 2007 by American Dialect Society at its annual convention Friday.

"`Subprime' has been around with bankers for awhile, but now everyone is talking about `subprime,'" said Wayne Glowka, a spokesman for the group."It's affecting all kinds of people in all kinds of places."

About 80 members of the organization spent two days debating the merits of runners-up "Facebook," "green," "Googleganger" and "waterboarding" before voting for an adjective that means "a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage or investment."

The choice signifies the public's concern for a "deepening mortgage crisis," the society said in a statement.

"Facebook," as a noun, verb or adjective, was popular with younger linguists², Glowka said.

Several people lobbied for "green," which "designates environmental concern," but the term has been around for years, he said. The word topped the 2007 "Most Useful" category, one of numerous subgroups the society choses.

The group also decided³ that although "waterboarding," an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, gained a lot of attention during recent attorney general confirmation⁴ hearings, it was a bigger deal in 2004, Glowka said.

But what's a "Googleganger?"

A play on "doppelganger," the word is "a person with your name who shows up when you Google yourself," according to the society. It was named as the "Most Creative" word.

As for "subprime," Glowka said it is an odd word — at least as far as linguists are concerned.

The prefix⁵ "sub" translates roughly to "below the standard," while "prime" means something close to "the best."

So, according to Glowka, the word really means "far below the best."

In 2006, the organization chose "plutoed," which means "to be demoted or devalued."

在上周五召开的美国方言学会年度大会上，用于形容高风险贷款的“次级（subprime）”一词被评为2007年度词汇。

该组织的发言人韦恩•格洛卡说：“‘次级（贷款）’曾是银行业术语，而如今每个人都在谈论它。它正影响着各行各业的人。”

此前，美国方言学会的约80名成员就评选年度词汇进行了为期两天的讨论。Facebook（美国在线社交网站）、green（绿色）、Googleganger（谷歌替身）和waterboarding（水刑）都在讨论之列。最终，他们投票选定意味着“高风险贷款或投资”的形容词“次级”为2007年度词汇。

美国方言学会在一份声明中说，“次级”当选年度词汇表明美国民众对于“日益恶化的次贷危机”的担忧。

格洛卡说，年轻的语言学家们更青睐Facebook一词，Facebook既可用作名词，也可用作形容词和动词。

还有几名评委倾向于“green（绿色）”一词，但这个代表人们对环境关切的词语已流行多年。除年度词汇外，该语言组织还评选出了多项词汇之最，green一词当选2007年“最有用的词汇”。

该组织称，尽管审讯手段“水刑”在最近召开的总检察长确认听证会上受到众多关注，但程度还不及2004年。“水刑”是一种让犯人感觉自己快被溺死的刑讯方式。

那么Googleganger指的是什么呢？

据介绍，“Googleganger（谷歌替身）”是根据（德语）doppelganger（面貌相似的人）一词改造而来，指的是在Google上搜索自己时发现的与自己同名同姓的人。Googleganger被评为“最具创意词汇”。

格洛卡说“subprime”这个词有些怪——至少在语言学家们看来是这样。

前缀“sub-”的大致含义为“不达标”；而“prime”则表示“最好”。

所以，两部分意思合在一起其实应该是“远没达到最好”。

去年的年度词汇为plutoed，意为“被降级或贬值”。