Writing the OED: New words
- Take words that aren’t in the dictionary and decide if they should be
- Draft entries for them
- Words come via wire basket of suggestions for new words from colleagues or public
- Consult in groups- collaborative process
How do you decide what to include in a dictionary?
- Depends on size and type of dictionary
- Rare and specialist words in larger dictionaries aim to be as comprehensible as possible
- In smaller dictionaries a words usefulness has to be carefully considered
- Informal, low frequency or offensive words as made very clear that they are so
- New words added if enough evidence of their use
- Include more words in online because of more space
John Simpson interview: how have dictionaries changed?
- In 1976 worked on index cards which was the database
- Worked alphabetically
- More recently there are still cards but database in also on computer software
Writing the OED: American English
- Opened an OED office in New York which looks over American words such as American Slang
- Work on anything and everything relating to American entries new or old
- Language more informal
- Generally an acceptance of the informality in American English by British
- Accuracy of dictionary is important
Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary
(2): exploring change
- Shows historical meaning and definitions as well as the etymology of a word
- Shows the time period of the changes the words have gone through
- Shows changes in spelling
Writing the OED
- Modern editors feel close to Victorian ones as the same processes are used
- Comprehensively revising and reviewing dictionary
- Finding earlier examples of words
- Trying to uncover small facts about the language
- Public input is important (since 1850s) makes definitions stronger
- Don’t throw away entries even if obsolete; an accumulating dictionary
