6. Language and LifeDo you know what the following neologisms mean?

Paying is checkout! Fans are supporters of public figures! An existing house is a ready-made **! If you are laid off, you will be fired, and the resignation status will ......Is this a new word?

From the above examples, we can see that the clues to the development of the meaning of "pay (pay the bill)" in Mandarin are: It specifically refers to the checkout and payment after eating at a restaurant. It generally refers to the settlement and payment after consumption in all consumption places.

Refers to activities related to payment with money. It means to take responsibility. We can see that from to is a search for the continuous development of the meaning of the word.

In this process, the scope of use of "pay (pay bill)" gradually expanded, and the meaning deviated more and more from its original meaning, but this development conformed to the general law of the development of word meaning, especially the meaning of new words. Neologisms are a new class of words in the language that have a strong vitality and a broad language market, which users are willing to use and recipients are willing to accept. When people use new words, they generally have a psychology of seeking novelty, difference, and change, and users always try to expand the scope of use of new words without affecting semantic understanding.

Driven by this mentality, people are constantly trying to use new words in more places. This process led to two results: first, the gradual expansion of the use of neologisms; Second, with the expansion of the scope of use, the meaning of new words gradually tends to be blurred, but this ambiguity will not affect people's understanding, combined with the specific context, the audience is often easy to understand the specific meaning of the new words.

We believe that these are two complementary phenomena that inevitably occur in the development of the meaning of new words. The second use of "paying the bill" is basically fixed at present, and has a relatively clear significance. The first meaning is in the stage of blurring and is currently the most used.

The recently published Standard Dictionary of Modern Chinese (edited by Li Xingjian, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Chinese Language Press, 2004 edition) has the following two meanings in the entry "pay the bill": 1Pay at the checkout after dining at the restaurant; Generally refers to the payment of money.

2.Figuratively take responsibility. This shows that the use of "taking responsibility" of "paying (buried)" is widely used and has been recognized by society.

The term "paying" in Cantonese has a long history. In Guangzhou's catering industry, there used to be a traditional practice of eating first and then paying the bill. In the old days, the tea house diner, after the customer finished eating, he would call the man to "bury the number" (check out).

The sound of "paying" and "paying" is similar, but the meaning of the words is very different. The word "buried" in Cantonese dialect has many meanings, one of which has the meaning of "aggregation", such as "burying mouth" (wound healing), "burying share" (participating in a share), "burying pile" (like-minded people often get together) and so on. As for the word "buy", it means "to buy something with money".

If "pay" is used to describe the settlement after the meal, isn't that "taking money to buy a receipt after the meal"?

Nowadays, it is not surprising that people outside the Cantonese dialect area misunderstand the meaning of Cantonese dialect and the folk culture of Guangzhou, and mistake "paying the bill" for "paying". However, the newspapers and periodicals published in Guangzhou have also written "paying the bill" as "paying the bill", which is embarrassing.