yarn bombing

(名詞) 針織塗鴉：秘密或未經授權就將針織品套在或置於雕像、電線桿、燈柱或其他公共建築結構上或當場將紗線針織在這些結構上的行徑。
-- yarn bomb (動詞)：針織塗鴉。
-- yarn bomber (名詞)：針織塗鴉客。

這是歐美越來越盛行的一種次文化；相較於一般令人反感的塗鴉，這種使用紗線 (yarn) 針織而成的作品來進行的「塗鴉」(bombing -- 這裡不能叫做轟炸，因為它與炸彈完全無關)，卻予人一種溫暖、柔和的感覺 (見文末附圖)。由於針織塗鴉潮流方興未艾，相關報導也越來越多，相關網站也紛紛設立 (見引句中所列的網站)，甚至有人打算出書來談論針織塗鴉；從引句中加拿大《環球郵報》的報導可知，Moore 和 Prain 這兩位女士預定今秋出版一本名為「Yarn Bombing: The Art of Knit Graffiti」《針織塗鴉：針織塗鴉藝術》的書。

引句：
The street-knitting scene has gotten so knotty that Ms. Moore and Ms. Prain are writing a tell-all book about their hobby. Published by Arsenal Pulp Press, Yarn Bombing: The Art of Knit Graffiti is set for release this fall.

The duo, who met four years ago at a stitch 'n' bitch, say yarn bombing has gone viral on the Internet.

After "tagging" a park bench or street lamp, guerrilla knitters document their exploits on blogs and websites such as Knittups.se and Knittaplease.com.
—Adriana Barton, "Yarn bombers cozy up to the urban landscape," The Globe and Mail, January 30, 2009

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yarn bombing
yarn bombing

(圖片來源 – 上圖：Knittaplease.com 下圖：Knittups.se)

framily

(名詞) 一個人最親近的朋友，尤指那些覺得好像是家庭一份子的人。這個字是由 friends 和 family 拼綴而成。

引句：
It was no surprise then that a recent study concluded that 67 per cent of us consider our pals to be just as important as our extended families. Now that relatives are often spread across the country or the globe, we are replacing traditional relations with friends, coining a new term for our collective chumfest — "framilies".
—Shari Low, "Someone tell Paris girl pals are forever," Daily Record, October 16, 2008

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Woman's record-length fingernails broken in crash/女子世界最長的指甲在車禍中斷裂

Lee Redmond shows off her fingernails in Salt Lake City, Aug. 8, 2006.A Utah woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her long fingernails has lost them in a car crash. Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the accident.

Redmond's nails, which hadn't been cut since 1979, were broken in the crash. According to the Guinness Web site, her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson says Redmond was ejected from an SUV in the crash and taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Redmond has been featured on TV in episodes of "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe It or Not." (AP)

《字詞解析》

Guinness Book of World Records – (n.) 金氏世界記錄書。

sustain – (v.) 遭受，蒙受。

non-life-threatening – (adj.) 沒有生命危險的。

eject – (v.) 彈出。

SUV – (n.) sports-utility vehicle，休旅車。

feature (sth1/sb in sth2) – (v.) 在 (sth2) 中展示 (sth1/sb)。

Ripley's Believe It Or Not! (Odditorium) -- (n.) 黎普立信不信由你 (奇人異事錧)。黎普立信不信由你奇人異事錧，是以美國記者、藝術家、探險家、收藏家 Robert Ripley 為名的博物館，專門收集和展示世界奇人異事的資料。黎普立被稱為現代馬可波羅，他一生中總共到過198個國家，旅行的距離足以環繞地球18周；他在1933年芝加哥世界博覽會推出「奇人異事館」，吸引了近 200萬人參觀。現今全球的黎普立信不信由你奇人異事館每年仍吸引數以百萬計的參觀人潮。

延伸閱讀：新聞英語的語法結構

stealth shopper

(名詞) 隱形購物者：1. 秘密購物以避免炫耀財富或俾對配偶隱瞞花費的人；2. 購買看似不貴的昂貴商品的人。
-- stealth shopping (現在分詞)：隱形購物。

引句：
But such obvious excess is seriously frowned upon now. The shopaholic is now a "recessionista," proudly wearing last year's "It" item and claiming that not only is it years old, but she got it at Winners.

The entire language of fashion is shifting, and the new frugality is dictating the vernacular.

The shopaholic, fashion victim or fashion-lover is now a "stealth shopper."
—Tracy Nesdoly, "Confessions of a stealth shopper," The Toronto Star, February 5, 2009

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run after; run against; run along; run in; run into; run on

run after +
追趕，追逐 (某人，某物)
The police ran after the guy who'd stolen it, but he was too fast for them.

run after +
追求 (異性)
He was running after her for ages but never managed to get a date.

run against +
(美) 與 (某人) 在競選中角逐
Gore ran against Bush in the 2000 elections in the U.S.A.

run against +
反對
Opinion is running against his policies and he has very little support.

run along
走開，離開 (常用作祈使句)
They kept disturbing him, so he told them to run along and leave him in peace.
Run along, I'm busy now.

run * in +
逮捕；把 (某人) 帶回警局偵訊
They ran him in last night.

run * in +
(小心地) 駕駛新車 (以免損壞引擎)
She ran the car in for a thousand miles.

run in
偶然造訪
We ran in and chatted for an hour.

run * in +
把 (某物) 插入 (某物)
He ran a graph in next to the text.

run into +
不期而遇；偶然碰見
I ran into my English teacher at the movies last night. She's so nice!

run into +
花費；累計達到 (某金額、數量)
The project has run into millions of dollars without any prospect of a return on this investment.

run on +
靠...運轉 、運行
The van runs on diesel.

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HENRY

(名詞) 高收入但還不富有的人。這個字是 High Earner, Not Rich Yet 的頭字語 (acronym)。既然是高收入，為何還不富有呢? 因為這些人要償還先前在名校接受高等教育的學生貸款，繳納鉅額所得稅 (在美國，高收入高課稅)，購屋置產或支付子女龐大的教育經費。根據一項新聞報導，HENRY 是指年收入至少 25 萬美元但資產淨值尚未累積到至少 300 萬美元的人。

引句：
'My bonus is 'shameful' — but I worked hard to get it,' said John Konstantinidis, a wholesale insurance broker, lunching Friday at Harry's at Hanover Square.

'I'm a HENRY,' Mr. Konstantinidis added. 'High Earner but Not Rich Yet.'
—Alan Feuer and Karen Zraick, "It's Theirs and They're Not Apologizing," The New York Times, January 31, 2009

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rumourtrage

(名詞) 謠言套利 -- 散播不實或誤導的訊息來影響某上市公司的股價俾從中獲利。亦寫成 rumortrage。這個字是由 rumour 和 arbitrage 拼綴而成。

引句：
NICK SHERRY: Arising from the recent market turbulence, concerns have been raised that some market participants both here and abroad have been spreading false or misleading information in respect of certain securities. In order to take advantage of artificial changes in their price, induced by the rumours.

This practice is sometimes referred to as "rumourtrage" and numerous members of corporate Australia have raised examples of this with me over the last year, some minor but I'd have to say, some simply shocking that in normal times people would shrug their shoulders and not take any particular notice of.
—"Govt looks to crackdown on 'rumourtrage'," Australian Broadcast Corporation Transcripts, November 19, 2008

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pick up after; pick up on; pick yourself up; pig out; pile up; pin down; pin on; pin up

pick up after +
整理、收拾某人所製造的髒亂或凌亂
I always have to pick up after him because he leaves things all over the office.

pick up on +
糾正某人所說的錯誤
My teacher picks up on any mistake I make and corrects me.

pick up on +
注意到大多數人未注意的事物
He's very quick to pick up on new trends.

pick up on +
對某事做出回應、反應
The government has picked up on the reports in the media.

pick up on +
對稍早或先前在談話中所說的某事發表評論
I'd like to pick up on the point that John made.

pick yourself up
從失敗、沮喪、挫折、陰霾等中恢復過來或站起來
It took him a long time to pick himself up after his wife left him.

pig out
大吃大喝；狼吞虎嚥
The food was great, so I really pigged out.

pile * up +
(使) 堆積，(使) 積壓
The child piled up the bricks until they fell over.

pin * down +
要 (某人) 做出決定，要 (某人) 表態，要 (某人) 採取行動，要 (某人) 遵守 (諾言)
I've asked him to set a date, but he's a hard man to pin down and won't give a definite answer.

pin * down +
確切說明 (某事物) 的性質，明確說明 (某事物)；查明，認出 (某人或某事物)
The government can't pin down where the leak came from.

pin * on
把 (罪責、責任等) 加在 (某人) 身上
The police tried to pin the crime on him.

pin * up +
把 (某物) (用針、別針等) 固定在牆壁或其他垂直表面上
I pinned the notice up on the board.

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grandparent scam

(名詞) 詐騙老人金錢的騙局 -- 詐騙集團打電話給老年人，假裝是他們的孫子或孫女來向這些老人騙錢的伎倆。這種與國內詐騙集團詐騙手法之一極為相似的騙局亦寫成 grandparents scam。grandparent scam 有一相關的片語叫做 granny scam，同樣意為「詐騙老人金錢的騙局」-- 在此一早在1992年或甚至更早就已出現的片語中，granny 雖是「祖母」，但一般也都用來泛指老年人。

引句：
Nicknamed the "emergency scam" or "grandparent scam," the fraud involves crooks phoning elderly people under the guise of one of their grandchildren. The crook persuades grandparent to send money but not tell other relatives.
—Jon Willing, "My dearest one, you've been scammed," The Ottawa Sun. January 27, 2009

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