HERB - The OED Needs You!

[Christine A Seelye-King]

I figured lots of people I knew would be interested in this!
Christianna


Wednesday August 4 10:38 AM ET 

Dictionary Seeks Words As It Goes Online

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The distinguished Oxford English Dictionary needs
you.

The dictionary, widely regarded as the ultimate authority on the English
language, has launched a worldwide appeal for words
as it prepares to go online to mark the new millennium with the most
comprehensive lexicon ever.

Overwhelmed by a flood of new words, phrases and technical terms coined
in the last 50 years, the OED is asking anyone
who speaks or reads English to submit new words and documentation for
them to lexicographers working on the first complete
revision in the work's 120-year history.

``The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has a reputation for being kind of
stodgy, yet this is an incredibly democratic
dictionary in which anyone can participate,'' said Michelle McKenna,
spokeswoman for the dictionary's U.S. office.

``Anyone in the world can help us. As far as I know, this exercise is
unique,'' McKenna said Tuesday.

The appeal for words is no mere marketing gimmick. Published evidence
must accompany the words or phrases submitted to
the OED, so contributors will have to do research.

The appeal echoes one issued by the OED's first editor, James Murray, who
in 1879 asked for assistance in charting the
language. Nearly 400 men and women obliged with more than 80,000 snippets
of information.

Today's editors are looking for new words, slang or regional phrases that
have entered written English recently, as well as
''new old words'' dating from earlier centuries.

Were there any ``authority figures'' before 1954? Or could you have
``been there, done that'' before 1983? The OED wants
to know.

Have you met any ``fashionistas'' (''critics of the latest fashion
trends'') or ``sheddies'' (''people who pursue their hobbies in
sheds'') or gone to a party that was complete ''pants'' (''rubbish'')?

The revision of the OED is scheduled to be completed by 2010, but the
latest edition -- 20 volumes, published in 1996 -- will
be available online next March and is expected to be updated every six
months with incoming contributions.

And because the dictionary will be online, it will have no limits.

``It can grow as big as the language. The idea is just mind-boggling when
you think of getting the whole language down so that
it is all there as a reflection of who we are,'' McKenna said.

Entries can be submitted at the OED's Web site (http://www.oed.com) or by
mail or fax to OED offices in the United States,
Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. 

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