《柯林斯词典》2024年度热词新鲜出炉，“小崽子”是什么令人上头的文化？

又是一年年末, 主流的英文词典像是Oxford, Collins, Merriam Webster都开始票选自己的年度热词~

牛津年度热词入围词汇包括brain rot, demure, dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy, slop;

剑桥词典年度热词：manifest（显化），即通过用言语（我能行我最棒之类的）自我激励，使自己相信这样做目标更容易实现。

而《柯林斯词典》的年度热词Brat还挺值得说道。

这个词本来指“熊孩子”，常常指那些被宠坏的“顽童”；

但现在，这个词被重新定义为具有自信、独立和享乐主义态度的人，摇身一变成了个有褒义色彩的形容词。

不得不感慨一句,"Brat"你的新词意陌生到让我害怕🤭

那今天我们就一起来看看这个“新鲜出炉”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 这个词并不是一个新词, 它本意有调皮任性难管教的孩子, 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, 这里面的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. 

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.

说到这个Brat的新风潮, 这就与英国的流行乐女歌手叫做 Charli XCX密不可分, 她在今年夏天推出了第六张专辑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 “like 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...” 

所以随着专辑热卖, 这位乐手Charli本人也出来定义了什么叫做她认为的brat, 总体来说那个表达是 

“有点狂野, 但是有时候也会犯错, 有时候也会崩溃, 但是依然会前行, 感觉非常坦诚, 非常直率, 但是有的时候有点阴晴不定. ”

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. 

正因为热卖的专辑在夏日推出, 所以整个一套被叫做 “Brat Summer美学”, 席卷全网. 

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. 

所以这个词很快在社交媒体上就从本来的名词变成了形容词, 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.

这个歌手最有名的就是当时在7月份她的专辑发布一段时间之后, 发了一条推 Kamala is brat.写的就是当时的副总统也是总统候选人Kamala Harris, 说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.

如果这样总结所谓的brat summer或者整个的Brat这个概念, 它追求的是更加edgy, imperfect and confident, 属于比较时尚, 比较前卫, 并不是完美的, 但是是自信、张扬的;

 追求的并不是那种 poised and clean cut, 这种比较优雅或者比较平衡, 比较沉稳, 其实就是要张扬, 要出圈这样子的一个感觉.

Brat是一个非常难以翻译的概念, 我看过有一篇文章把它翻译成 “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. 

要特别提醒大家一下,Brat 这个词除了原来 "熊孩子"的意思, 还有今年被柯林斯新定义的这种 "自信、独立、享乐主义"的态度之外;

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. 

Sample Sentence：

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