又是一年年末, 主流的英文詞典像是Oxford, Collins, Merriam Webster都開始票選自己的年度熱詞~

牛津年度熱詞入圍詞匯包括brain rot, demure, dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy, slop;

劍橋詞典年度熱詞：manifest（顯化），即通過用言語（我能行我最棒之類的）自我激勵，使自己相信這樣做目標(biāo)更容易實(shí)現(xiàn)。

而《柯林斯詞典》的年度熱詞Brat還挺值得說道。

這個詞本來指“熊孩子”，常常指那些被寵壞的“頑童”；

但現(xiàn)在，這個詞被重新定義為具有自信、獨(dú)立和享樂主義態(tài)度的人，搖身一變成了個有褒義色彩的形容詞。

不得不感慨一句,"Brat"你的新詞意陌生到讓我害怕????

那今天我們就一起來看看這個“新鮮出爐”的Buzzword-Brat有什么新意呀~

In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Brat.

So the word we're looking at today “brat” has just been named the Word of the Year for 2024 by Collins Dictionary.

The thing is this is not a new word. If you look at Collins or any other dictionaries, you would see brat has a definition.

The definition is "someone, especially a child, who behaves badly or annoys you or you can use it to describe a ill-mannered person who is very immature".

Brat 這個詞并不是一個新詞, 它本意有調(diào)皮任性難管教的孩子, and it's usually quite negative.

If you call someone a brat, especially a child, you mean that he or she really annoys you because they haven't really been taught proper manners.

For example, if we say he's just a spoiled brat or stop being such a brat, 這里面的brat大概率是指的熊孩子.

Every time we read those news about annoying kids shouting, screaming on public transport, we are calling them spoiled brats.

1 How has "Brat"

become the word of the year?

怎么就入選年度熱詞了呢

Because this year “brat” has a new meaning.

The summer of 2024 is called “Brat Summer”. Now let us get into the story.

If you're not already tuned into brat, this is the title of pop star Charli XCX’s 6th album which was released in early June of 2024.

說到這個Brat的新風(fēng)潮, 這就與英國的流行樂女歌手叫做 Charli XCX密不可分, 她在今年夏天推出了第六張專輯Brat, 中文名叫《我心狂野》.

It got really popular and in a video from her official TikTok account posted on 1st July, and captioned “What it means to be a brat”.

The singer explains that her conception of a brat is someone who is “l(fā)ike that girl who... likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who, feels herself, but may also has a breakdown, but parties through it, is very honest, very blunt, a little bit volatile...”

所以隨著專輯熱賣, 這位樂手Charli本人也出來定義了什么叫做她認(rèn)為的brat, 總體來說那個表達(dá)是

“有點(diǎn)狂野, 但是有時候也會犯錯, 有時候也會崩潰, 但是依然會前行, 感覺非常坦誠, 非常直率, 但是有的時候有點(diǎn)陰晴不定. ”

I suppose it's a combination of being provocative and being vulnerable.

Now because this album was released in the height of summer, so the concept of brat summer has been sweeping across social media.

正因為熱賣的專輯在夏日推出, 所以整個一套被叫做 “Brat Summer美學(xué)”, 席卷全網(wǎng).

There's one thing to note though, the original word "brat" like we call someone "a brat", this is a noun form.

But according to this singer, this word now has become an adjective in modern slang because she said in a video clip “It's brat”, “You are brat” or “That's brat”.

So in the wake of the album's mega-success, soon everybody on social media is using brat as an adjective.

所以這個詞很快在社交媒體上就從本來的名詞變成了形容詞, you might call someone or something brat, for example, she is so brat, or this director is brat.

Earphones are so brat. This song is so brat.

Perhaps one of the most well-known examples is when the singer Charli XCX posted on X.com, the original Twitter, on 21st July , she referred to the then presidential candidate Kamala Harris by saying Kamala is brat.

這個歌手最有名的就是當(dāng)時在7月份她的專輯發(fā)布一段時間之后, 發(fā)了一條推 Kamala is brat.寫的就是當(dāng)時的副總統(tǒng)也是總統(tǒng)候選人Kamala Harris, 說Kamala is brat.

And interestingly both the Kamala Harris campaign and its supporters, they ran with it, turning out memes at a rapid pace that traded on the mega-popularity of the pop star and her newest album.

So Kamala team actually took advantage of this and started to advertise the fact that Kamala is brat.

2 Brat Movement

"小崽子"文化

Back to the movement called the "brat summer", if we sum it up, this movement encourages being bold, daring, taking risks and embracing the uncomfortable.

The core focus of brat or brat movement is edgy, imperfect and confident, as opposed to polished, poised and clean cut.

如果這樣總結(jié)所謂的brat summer或者整個的Brat這個概念, 它追求的是更加edgy, imperfect and confident, 屬于比較時尚, 比較前衛(wèi), 并不是完美的, 但是是自信、張揚(yáng)的;

追求的并不是那種 poised and clean cut, 這種比較優(yōu)雅或者比較平衡, 比較沉穩(wěn), 其實(shí)就是要張揚(yáng), 要出圈這樣子的一個感覺.

Brat是一個非常難以翻譯的概念, 我看過有一篇文章把它翻譯成 “小崽子文化”.

I think it's pretty apt actually.

It started off as a negative word and now it has been embraced by people especially young people like Gen Zs.

They embrace it as a term of endearment. It's almost like saying someone so brat means that they're so cool.

You can even see Gen Z bringing brat culture to the workplace. So in a workplace, “brat culture” is also seen as a positive one. It's all about accepting imperfections and owning your authentic self.

But before we wrap up, I do need to remind you that apart from the original meaning, which means a spoiled child and the current meaning which Collins now defined as confident, independent and hedonistic.

要特別提醒大家一下,Brat 這個詞除了原來 "熊孩子"的意思, 還有今年被柯林斯新定義的這種 "自信、獨(dú)立、享樂主義"的態(tài)度之外;

In certain alternative circles, "brat" also has a different meaning.

If you're interested, you can check it out or perhaps you are already in that circle, or you dabble with a circle you already know.

So be careful when you use it though, especially when you use it to refer to yourself.

Now let's move on to the sample sentence.

例句示范

Sample Sentence：

-Gen Z are bringing a “Brat” mindset to the workforce.