Oxford Word of the Year 2009: unfriend

Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary announce its Word of the Year. This announcement is usually applauded by some and derided by others.

This year it has named “unfriend” as Word of the Year. The definition of “unfriend”, according to Oxford, is "to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” For example: “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend”, a verb, is different from the norm.

Oxford University Press USA, in a blog post, said "unfriend", had beaten teabagger, netbook, sexting, paywall, birther and death panel, hastag, zombie bank, ecotown, tramp stamp for the honour.

"Unfriend has real lex-appeal," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program.

"It has both currency and potential longevity," she said. "In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for word of the year."

Previous words of the year include carbon neutral (2006), locavore (2007), and hypermiling (2008).

Carbon neutral is an adjective that refers to the point at which greenhouse gas emissions from one’s activities, such as driving or flying, are offset by planting trees or investing in solar, wind or other clean-energy projects. Locavores are people who eat locally grown food while hypermiling is a verb meaning “to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.”

The words on Oxford Word of the Year shortlist are under considered for inclusion in the next dictionary—they are on “words to watch” list. Depending on frequency of usage, they may be added to the next edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary, to publish in Fall 2010.

Word of the year shortlist and finalists:

Technology
hastag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy
freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs
Ardi – (Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009
birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate
choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother
dead panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed
teabagger -a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)

Environment
brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations
green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations
ecotown - a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

Novelty Words
deleb – a dead celebrity
tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

Monash tops preference poll

Monash University has again got the highest percentage in the Victorian first preference popularity polls. It is better than its rival Melbourne University who has experienced a greater decline as it transitions to its graduate model and cuts undergraduate course.

In Melbourne University, some undergraduate courses such as law, dentistry and physiotherapy are discontinued and transformed to graduate programs. This year 65 undergraduate courses are offered at Melbourne, compared to nearly 200 offered at Monash.

This year Monash University obtained 15,175 first preferences (24%); followed by Deakin University, 9978 (16%); Melbourne University, 8,022 (13%); and La Trobe University 6767 (11%).

The data from other Victorian universities had yet to be released.

Three Australian Universities in the top 100 Global Rankings 2009

Australia has only three universities in the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) which is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Australian National University (ANU) is steady at 59. Sydney University has jumped three places to 94 while its rival, Melbourne University has slipped two places to 75.

Harvard University sits at No1, followed by Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Cambridge University comes in at No4. Of the top 20, 17 are US institutions, two English and one Japanese.

Universities are ranked in 6 categories: alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10%), staff winning Nobel Prizes and Field Medals (20%), highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories (20%), articles published in Nature and Science (20%), the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index (20%), and the per capita academic performance of an institution (10%)

Top 20 World Universities

Rank Institution Country Total Score
1 Harvard University US 100.0
2 Stanford University US 73.1
3 University of California, Berkeley US 71.0
4 University of Cambridge UK 70.2
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) US 69.5
6 California Institute of Technology US 64.8
7 Columbia University US 61.7
8 Princeton University US 60.2
9 University of Chicago US 57.0
10 Oxford University UK 56.3
11 Yale University US 55.2
12 Cornell University US 53.1
13 University of California, Los Angeles US 52.3
14 University of California, San Diego US 50.7
15 University of Pennsylvania US 49.3
16 University of Washington US 48.0
17 University of Wisconsin-Madison US 46.7
18 University of California, San Francisco US 45.9
19 The Johns Hopkins University US 45.2
20 Tokyo University Japan 45.1


2009 ARWU – Australian Universities ranking

University Aus Rank (World Rank)
Australian National University 1 (59)
Melbourne University 2 (75)
Sydney University 3 (94)
Queensland University 4 (101-151)
University of Western Australia 5 (101-151)
University of New South Wales 6 (152-200)
Macquarie University 7 (201-302)
Monash University 8 (201-302)
University of Adelaide 9 (201-302)
Flinders University 10 (303-401)
James Cook University 11 (303-401)
University of Newcastle 12 (303-401)
University of Tasmania 13 (303-401)
University of Wollongong 14 (303-401)
Curtin University of Technology 15 (402-501)
James Cook University 16 (402-501)
Latrobe University 17 (402-501)
Swinburne University 18 (402-501)

Source: http://www.arwu.org/

ENGLISH CORNER

Differentiate Between An Opinion and A Preference

Your independent speaking or writing task often asks you to express your opinion or preference. It is then essential for you to differentiate between an opinion and a preference.

An opinion is a position for or against a plan, action or argument. It requires objective and logical support. More explanation is required such as cause and effect and it must be persuasive, too.

For example:

Independent Writing Question:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.

Independent Brief Writing Answer:
……
In any relationship of mine, I would wish that the person I’m dealing with is honest. Even though he did something wrong that I wouldn’t like, he had better tell me the truth and not to lie about it. Later on if I find out about a lie or hear the truth from someone else, that would be much more unpleasant. In that case, how can I ever trust that person again? How can I ever believe that this person has enough confidence in me to forgive him and carry on with the relationship from there. So, if cannot believe that person anymore, if the person doesn’t think I can handle the truth, there’s no point to continue the relationship.

Although I also consider that altruistic, understanding, thoughtful and loyal behavior from people important, an instance of these opposite behaviors would not upset me as much as dishonesty would. Among all the possible behaviors, dishonesty is the only one for me that terminates how I feel about a person’s reliability. Therefore, honesty would be my first concern and the most important consideration in a relationship.

A preference is a choice based on a writer’s taste (likes and dislikes) or personality. It could be objective or subjective. Though both need your logical explanation, you don’t need to convince or persuade someone. It is more descriptive.

For example:

Independent Speaking Question:
Some people like to watch the news on television. Other people prefer to read the news in a newspaper. Still others use their computers to get the news. How do you prefer to be informed about the news and why?

Independent Speaking Answer:
Although newspapers contain some information that’s limited to local interests and I like to turn to those pages, for the most part, I prefer to get my news on TV and on my computer. The problem with printed news is it takes so long to produce it that the stories could have changed or more important news could have happened minutes after the newspaper is delivered. So, I scan the local stories in the paper when I get home from work, then I watch international news on TV at night for the most current information, and the following morning, I click on one of the web sites that offer the most recent updates of the lead stories. That way, I’m taking advantage of the best aspects of all the news media, and I stay current locally and internationally.

References

1. ETS (2007). The Official Guide to The New TOEFL iBT. London:McGrawHill.
2. Sharpe, Pamela J. (2007). Barron’s TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Test) 12th ed. Jakarta: Binarupa Aksara

Whatever is the most annoying word

Whatever has been voted most annoying word in English conversation by 47% Americans. The informal response to indicate a lack of interest is consistently disliked by Americans regardless of gender, race, age, income, or where they live.

In second place came you know (25%) followed by it is what it is (11%), anyway (7%) and at the end of the day (2%)

Marist Institute surveyed 938 US adults by telephone from August 3 to August 6. The five choices included were chosen by people at the poll discussing what popular words and phrases might be considered annoying.

In order to be a good conversationalist is to always be aware of what you are saying and maybe to avoid those five words /phrases.

Melbourne in third World’s Most Livable Cities 2009

AUSTRALIAN cities hold three of the top 10 places in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2009 Liveability poll.

Melbourne ranked third in the world, behind Vancouver in Canada and Vienna in Austria. Two other Australian cities are Perth at equal 5th and Sydney at equal 8th.

The highest-ranked Asian city was Osaka in Japan (13th) followed by Tokyo in Japan (19th), Hongkong (39th) , Singapore (54th) and Seoul, South Korea (58th).

Singapore is the most livable place in South-East Asia while Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the worst place (128th). Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Jakarta in Indonesia were placed 79th and 123th respectively

Pittsburgh is the highest-rated US city, in 29th place.

It analysed 140 world’s major cities based on 5 factors: stability, health care, education, infrastructure, culture and environment. The survey is conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a branch of The Economist Group, which publishes The Economist, a weekly magazine.

Top 10 cities
1 Vancouver Canada
2 Vienna Austria
3 Melbourne Australia
4 Toronto Canada
5/6 Perth Australia
Calgary Canada
7 Helsinki Finland
8/9/10 Geneva Switzerland
Sydney Australia
Zurich Switzerland

Group of Eight Aussie Unis in top 100

Times Higher Education on 8th October 2009 published world ranking presenting Australia's Group of Eight research universities are all placed in the global top 100.

Harvard once again claims the No1 world ranking, while Cambridge leapfrogs Yale to take second place.

The Australian National University fell one place, from 16 to 17. The University of Sydney gained one spot to tie for 36th with University of Melbourne which got better two places on last year’s ranking. The University of Queensland also climbed in the rankings, from 43 to 41, as did Monash University, from 47 to 45, while the University of Adelaide leapt from 106 to 81. The University of NSW dropped two places, from 45 to 47. And while the University of Western Australia slid one place to 84th.

Universities are ranked in six categories: peer review (40%), employer review (10%), staff-to-student ratio (20%), citation-to-staff ratio (20%), proportion of international staff (5%), proportion of international students (5%).

The top 200 world universities can be accessed on http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html

Top 20 World Universities
2009 rank 2008 rank Institution Country Overall Score
1 1 Harvard University US 100.0
2 3 University of Cambridge UK 99.6
3 2 Yale University US 99.1
4 7 University College London UK 99.0
5= 6 Imperial College London UK 97.8
5= 4 University of Oxford UK 97.8
7 8 University of Chicago US 96.8
8 12 Princeton University US 96.6
9 9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology US 96.1
10 5 California Institute of Technology US 95.9
11 10 Columbia University US 95.6
12 11 University of Pennsylvania US 94.2
13 13= Johns Hopkins University US 94.1
14 13= Duke University US 92.9
15 15 Cornell University US 92.5
16 17 Stanford University US 92.2
17 16 Australian National University Australia 90.5
18 20 McGill University Canada 90.4
19 18 University of Michigan US 89.9
20= 23 University of Edinburgh UK 89.3
20= 24 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland 89.3

Australia is the safest study destination

Australia was chosen by foreign students as the safest study destination, according to the global survey conducted from September 12 to October 6, 2009 by IDP Education.

Almost 40 per cent of respondents ticked Australia as the safest country when asked to select from a list consisting of five countries: Australia, the US, Britain, New Zealand, Canada.

However Australia was not considered as a top study destination for a quality education. They believed the US offered the most well-known education system. On this measure, the US ranked most highly (42 per cent), followed by Britain (28 per cent) and Australia (15 per cent).

The IDP Education surveyed 6000 students from eight countries: China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.