Dictionary Society of North America

In the Digital Era, Our Dictionaries Read Us

This long article, appearing in the 11 March 2013 Chronicle of Higher Education, offers a detailed survey of issues related to digital dictionaries; the idea for the article originated with the panel organized by DSNA Past President Michael Hancher at the 2013 MLA conference. The essay is a lively, detailed and thoughtful introduction to lexicography in the 21st century.  Author Jennifer Howard has interviewed many lexicographers and DSNA members, including Peter Sokolowski (left), Katherine Connor Martin, Ben Zimmer, Steve Kleinedler, Michael Rundell, Ingrid Goldstein, and Lisa Berglund.

NPR interview on American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms

DSNA member and lexicographer Christine Ammer was interviewed on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" today, about the more than 10,000 phrases defined in the new American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Here's a link to the website of WBFO in Buffalo (where DSNA hangs its hat); you can listen to the interview and check out some of the idioms that Ammer highlights in her discussion with radio host Renee Montagne.

DSNA members in the news

My Google alerts are overflowing with the doings of DSNA members:

Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam Webster, reports that the most looked-up words in 2012 were capitalism and socialism, while malarkey enjoyed the biggest one-day spike. Here's one version of the story, from the Christian Science Monitor.

Check out this interview with American Heritage Dictionary Executive Editor Steve Kleinedler. He is talking with Robin Young on  WBUR's program "Here and Now" about "Words We ‘Literally’ Want Out Of The Dictionary."

Meanwhile, in Athens, Georgia,  The Red and Black has a story on the lexicography course taught by our 2013 DSNA meeting host Don McCreary: check out this short feature now to whet your appetite for the 2012 volume of Dictionaries (to be published later this month), which includes Don's article on his students' ongoing project  "Dawgspeak: The Slanguage Dictionary of the University of Georgia."

"Offensive" label for "anchor baby"

In response to complaints from immigrant groups, the American Heritage Dictionary has added the label "offensive" to its definition of "anchor baby." See this short report in USA Today.