Dictionary Society of North America

DSNA 2013 Election results

The votes are in! Thank you to everyone who cast ballots (and filled out the survey). The constitutional amendments were approved and our slate of candidates has been elected. The election will be formally confirmed at the General Meeting of the Society in May. Congratulations to:

Luanne von Schneidemesser, Vice President 2013-2015; President 2015-2017

Rebecca Shapiro, Executive Secretary, 2013-2017

Ammon Shea and Peter A. Sokolowski, Board Members at Large, 2013-2017

DSNA mission statement

At its 24 February 2012 meeting, the DSNA Executive Board approved the following mission statement for the Society:

The Dictionary Society of North America promotes the development, practice, and study of lexicography, and the use, compilation, curation, marketing, maintenance, and scholarly examination of dictionaries and related reference works. It provides forums for discussion and dissemination of information on all of these topics, including a peer-reviewed journal, a newsletter, a blog, and biennial meetings.

Rock that usage!

Here's another report from the DSNA Montreal conference, this time in The Montreal Gazette. Ben Zimmer's paper on hip-hop takes center stage, but reporter Karen Seidman also has a keen eye for lexicographical haberdashery. And after quoting Michael Adams on Ammon Shea's analysis of  the shocking academic practice of misciting lexicons, she ruefully continues:

        Some academics may actually refer to "the dictionary" as if there  is only one.

        Dimwits! (Okay, I have to fess up--I referred to "the dictionary" in the first five seconds  of  my  interview with Zimmer. I definitely did not rock that usage.)

The rest of her witty story, "Chillax, English is always evolving," is available here.



DSNA Montreal press coverage

The National Post has reported on our meeting: food words are naturally a topic of interest. Check out the story, entitled, "At the Dictionary Society of North America, words matter--a lot" here. Reporter Graeme Hamilton quotes Lise Winer on citrus fruit and Ron Butters on chocolate chips, and then (proceeding to more frivolous matters) interviews Ben Zimmer on the new hip-hop lexis and quotes my own presentation on early American annotations of "naughty words."

Happy Birthday Webster's Third: have some cake

As I mentioned in my last, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Webster's Third on Wednesday evening at our meeting in Montreal, and DSNA member Christopher Devine has obliged with a handsome photo of the cake pre-slicing--I arrived too late (for photos, I hasten to add, not for eating):

 

Christopher also sent along a shot of the conference program/poster, which Lise Winer brilliantly designed from a word-cloud taken from the Index to Sidney Landau's Dictionaries:

 
As well as a clever faux-title page for his own instructive talk on "The first English dictionary: Robert Cawdrey and the myth of creation":

Many thanks to Christopher, and I encourage everyone else to contribute photos to illustrate further reports.

Chocolate chips and food for thought in Montreal

We're having a terrific time here in Montreal at the 2011 DSNA meeting, thanks to Lise Winer and her organizational team.  We started with two papers on French dictionaries for Quebec and the Carribbean, followed by a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of Webster's Third International, hosted by Peter Sokolowski of Merriam Webster. If anyone took a photo of the cake before the ravenous horde descended, send it along so I can post it! Here's a snap of our VINTAGE party favor:

The next morning Ron Butters gave a paper on "‘Chocolate chip’ and the silent subreption of the lexicon" that sent everyone hungrily out into the coffee break, where Lise mercifully had arranged for chocolate chip cookies.

Here's the gang, on the steps of the Redpath Museum at McGill University (thanks to Linda Hancher for stepping in as photographer):

 

and here's a photo of one of the fascinating dictionaries in the exhibit that the Rare Books Collection staff at McGill put together (along with a jolly reception on Thursday night):

 

And here, for what's it's worth, is a photo I included in my own presentation, "Secular Bibles: Annotations in Early American Dictionaries." The dictionary is in the Cordell Collection.

 

 If you took any photos you'd like to share, or if you're posting them on your own blog, do let me know.

2011 DSNA election results

The results of the 2011 DSNA election are as follows:

The Proposed Constitutional Amendment, to permit electronic balloting in future elections, was approved.

Vice-president for 2011-2013 & president-elect for 2013-2015 is Michael Adams. Connie Eble and Antonette DiPaolo Healey were elected to terms as board members-at-large for 2011-2015.  Congratulations to our new officers.

Twenty-eight percent of the membership voted. Thank you very much! many learned societies are happy to record a meager 10 percent participation.