Social mirror on the tip of Chinese tongues   

语言生活状况报告:卡扎菲 限购 校车成去年热词

中国教育部29日发布《2011年中国语言生活状况报告》。卡扎菲、限购、校车、房产税、辛亥革命、欧债危机、瘦肉精、京沪高铁、塑化剂、乔布斯成为使用频率较高的热词。

Beijing (CNS) -- Gaddafi, school bus, property taxes, the Revolution of 1911, the debt crisis in Europe, clenbuterol, Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Steve Jobs - the words seem to have nothing at all to do with each other, but all belong to the 2011 list of "hot words" in the Chinese language.

The Chinese Ministry of Education issued the 2011 Chinese Language Live Report on May 29. The report is based on a comprehensive monitoring over 2.4 million words in its database.

The ministry has issued an annual language report for the last seven years, and compiled a total of 2,977 new words of the year, of which 40 percent survive and are still in use today.

Hou Min, a professor from the Communication University of China, said the frequently renewed hot conversation topics of the day mirror the social preoccupations of China and are a linguistic record of the times.