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McJob= job with few prospects?
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The world's largest fast food company McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday it plans to launch a campaign in the U.K. this spring to get the country's dictionary houses to change current references to the word "McJob."
The Oxford English Dictionary, considered by manywordsmithsas the gold standard for the English language, is one of those that will be targeted. It defines the noun as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector."
The word first cropped up two decades ago in the Washington Post, according to the dictionary. But executives at Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's say the definition is demeaning to its workers and say they'll ask dictionary editors to amend the definition.
"Dictionaries are supposed to be paragons of accuracy. And in this case, they got it completely wrong," said Walt Riker, a McDonald's spokesman. "It's a completedisserviceand incredibly demeaning to a terrific work force and a company that's been a jobs and opportunity machine for 50 years."
In 2003, editors at the Merriam-Webster dictionary declined to remove or change their definition of "McJob" after McDonald's balked at its inclusion in the book's 11th edition.Instead, the Springfield, Mass. publisher said the word was accurate and appropriate.
Amanda Pierce, a spokeswoman for McDonald's U.K. operations, declined to comment on the specifics of the company's newest campaign, but said it will kick off in May with the goal of changing what she called an "out-of-date" definition.
She said she did not know how long the campaign would last, saying that depended on "how far and wide the campaign goes."
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(Reuters)
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本周二，全球快餐業(yè)巨頭麥當(dāng)勞集團(tuán)表示，公司打算于今年春天在英國(guó)發(fā)起一場(chǎng)運(yùn)動(dòng)，以促使某些詞典出版社修改對(duì)McJob一詞的解釋。
歷來(lái)為語(yǔ)言大師們譽(yù)為英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言“金科玉律”的牛津英語(yǔ)辭典也是其目標(biāo)之一。牛津英語(yǔ)詞典將McJob一詞定義為“無(wú)激勵(lì)、薪水低、無(wú)前途的工作，尤指服務(wù)行業(yè)擴(kuò)張所帶來(lái)的工作。”
據(jù)牛津英語(yǔ)詞典介紹，McJob一詞于20年前首次出現(xiàn)在《華盛頓郵報(bào)》上。但總部位于伊利諾斯州Oak Brook的麥當(dāng)勞的管理人員稱，這個(gè)定義是對(duì)麥當(dāng)勞員工的貶低；并表示他們將要求詞典的編輯對(duì)這一注釋進(jìn)行修改。
麥當(dāng)勞的發(fā)言人沃爾特·萊克說(shuō)：“詞典應(yīng)該是準(zhǔn)確的典范。而他們對(duì)這個(gè)詞的解釋卻是完全錯(cuò)誤的。這無(wú)論對(duì)于一個(gè)好員工、還是對(duì)一個(gè)50年來(lái)創(chuàng)造了無(wú)數(shù)就業(yè)和機(jī)會(huì)的公司來(lái)說(shuō)，都是一種徹底的傷害和難以置信的貶低。”
2003年，由于麥當(dāng)勞公司拒絕將McJob一詞收入韋氏大字典第11版中，因此字典的編輯拒絕刪除或修改這個(gè)詞的定義。相反，韋氏大字典堅(jiān)持對(duì)這個(gè)詞的解釋是正確的、恰當(dāng)?shù)摹?/font>
麥當(dāng)勞英國(guó)區(qū)女發(fā)言人阿曼達(dá)·皮爾斯拒絕對(duì)公司這項(xiàng)最新運(yùn)動(dòng)的細(xì)節(jié)發(fā)表評(píng)論，但據(jù)她透露，此活動(dòng)將于5月份啟動(dòng)，其目的就是改變這個(gè)“過(guò)時(shí)的”定義。
她說(shuō)，她不知道此活動(dòng)將持續(xù)多久，這將主要取決于“活動(dòng)進(jìn)行的深度和廣度”。
（ 英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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