transcription, транскрипция: [ blɪp ]
noun and verb (Business World) noun: A temporary movement in statistics (usually in an unexpected or unwelcome direction); hence any kind of temporary problem or hold-up; a 'hiccup'. intransitive verb: (Of figures, as on a graph etc.) to rise suddenly; (of a business, an economic indicator, etc.) to suffer a temporary 'hiccup'. Etymology: A figurative use of an existing sense of blip in radar: the small bump on a financial graph which represents the temporary change looks rather like the apparent rise and fall of the blip as it appears on the even trace on a radar screen. History and Usage: Blip started to be used figuratively in this way, particularly in economics and finance, during the seventies. In the UK it was largely limited to economic or business jargon until September 1988, when Nigel Lawson, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was widely quoted as having announced that a significant increase in the Retail Price Index was to be regarded only as a 'temporary blip' and not as a sign that the government's anti-inflation policies were failing. After this, the word became fashionable in the British press and it was common to find it applied more widely, outside the field of finance, to any temporary problem. As was the case with Mr Lawson, it is not unusual to find that the person who describes a sudden change as a blip is not yet in a position to know whether it will, in the end, prove to be only temporary. This adds a certain euphemistic tinge to the usage. Nigel Lawson's dilemma is the Conservative Party's also. Is the first tremor on its happy political landscape merely 'a blip', as the Chancellor has called the storm that has gradually engulfed him? Listener 2 Mar. 1989, p. 10 Prices moved higher during overnight trading, and blipped a shade higher still following the release of the G.N.P. figures. New York Times 27 Apr. 1989, section D, p. 19