Dictionary Society of North America

DARE celebrated in the Wall Street Journal

So many bloggers, newspapers and other media have been celebrating the completion of the fifth and final volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English that this blog hasn't even tried to keep up with the plaudits and commemorations. But the article in today's Wall Street Journal,  "Frog Hair to Woolies: Dust Bunnies by 173 Other Names," is particularly good. In addition to finding inevitable pleasure in the diversity of American regional English, it quotes DARE chief editor  Joan Houston Hall and Wordnik founder Erin McKean (both members of DSNA). Plus it has some great interactive graphics and photographs, including this one of founding editor Frederic Cassidy.

Lexicography Society at Columbia University

I've finally caught up with the new Lexicography Society at Columbia, whose messages about lively meetings and speakers have been mysteriously routed to my spam filter! But no more: I am happy to pass along the news that DSNA members Jesse Sheidlower and Madeline Kripke will be speaking this Friday, 17 February, on SCANDALOUSLY SEXY DICTIONARIES: SLANG LEXICOGRAPHY AND THE HISTORY OF THE F-WORD.Jesse Sheidlower will discuss the history of slang lexicography and the incorporation of obscenities in particular. Madeline Kripke will be showcasing some special items from her collection of over 15,000 volumes. Their presentation will take place from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in 709 Hamilton Hall, at Columbia (off Amsterdam Avenue). For more information on the Lexicography Society's meetings, contact the organization's founder and convener, Yin Yin Lu.

Speaking American

The Visual Thesaurus has published an enthusiastic reflection on the late Richard Bailey's book Speaking American. Richard Bailey was a fellow of the Dictionary Society and a former editor of the society's journal Dictionaries. Language columnist Mark Peters writes that Speaking American is "one of those books I wish I could make every prescriptivist grouch in the world read." He also praises "the inspiring scope" of Bailey's project, and "the power of his prose." Speaking American was published by Oxford UP in December 2011.

A troop of baboons

The fact-checking organization Politifact Rhode Island has determined that an aggregate of baboons is not called a "congress," as claimed in a chain e-mail. After consulting dictionary.com, Merriam Webster, and Oxford, which shed no light, and Urban Dictionary, which was apparently updated using the chain e-mail as a source, the reporter sensibly sought the advice of both primate specialists and lexicographers, consulting DSNA President Orin Hargraves. According to the article, the proper term is "troop."  Using the word "congress" casts unfair aspersions on baboons.

Is there a collective noun for dictionary-makers? I propose "a fascicle of lexicographers." The term is both apropos and sufficiently obscure to send folks to their dictionaries.

Can you really indict a ham sandwich?

Yale University Press has just published Lawtalk: The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions, which co-author (and DSNA member) James E. Clapp describes as "a collaboration among four scholars with an interest in both law and language [that] explores the origins and uses of scores of law-related words and phrases.  Though accessible and entertaining for general readers, it is notable for its original research and thorough documentation.  Time after time we have traced terms farther back than previously known, often uncovering facts about their origins and evolution that heretofore were unknown, misunderstood, or only guessed at." The other authors are Elizabeth G. Thornburg, Marc Galanter, and Fred R. Shapiro.

Did you know that "ham sandwich" has its own wikipedia page?

 

"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.

Musical celebration of eponyms (with caveat)

 Start your Monday morning with this cheerful song: "I hope my name becomes a noun" by Adam Cole and Robert Krulwich (pictured) on NPR's website. Also featured in the video is Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.

More reflections on outrage at dictionary updates

Linguist and historian Geoffrey Nunberg joins the conversation with an article in the New York Times. Nunberg compares the latest outcries to the rage that greeted Webster's Third New International, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. If you think folks get excited about OMG and muffin-top, how do you suppose they reacted when Philip Gove gave the OK to "ain't," cited Ethel Merman as a source, and, in the words of Wilson Follett, published a “fighting document” that was “out to destroy . . . every obstinate vestige of linguistic punctilio, every surviving influence that makes for the upholding of standards.” Read the rest of Nunberg's piece here.

Continuing chatter about new words

The Philadelphia Inquirer belatedly climbed aboard the OMG bromance charabanc, with an article on 18 September. I mention their story because reporter John Timpane actually went to the trouble to talk to a couple of members of DSNA, Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski  and Temple University professor Muffy E. A. Siegel. The latter is quoted as saying:

"People have a misconception that dictionaries and grammar books determine what language is [.] But in fact, it's the opposite. We're always changing and getting rid of words and rules people no longer use. Language is a living system that changes to serve the needs of its users."

Read the rest of the story here. (Of course, if you're following Peter on Twitter you probably already know this.)

 

Wrapping up the annual fuss over new words

Lexicography is a very predictable business. Four years as your executive secretary, monitoring the press and the blogs for dictionary news to share, has brought four rounds of local newspapers reporting that civic organizations are donating dictionaries to school children (invariably leading with an enthusiastic endorsement from a precocious nine-year-old).  I've read four years worth of December buzz about the Word of the Year. And with September approaching, it's time for the outbursts of shock and horror as Oxford, Collins, and Merriam Webster, among others, play Heidi Klum and announce "who is in and who is out." 

As I was procrastinating about reporting the uproar over the inclusion of "bromance" and "helicopter parent," or the ashcanning of "charabanc," I saw that the Visual Thesaurus was briskly reporting on the annual fuss, with a piece yesterday by Dennis Baron, on the new 150 words in Merriam-Websters's Collegiate Dictionary. They followed up today with a piece by Baltimore Sun copy editor John E. McIntyre, "who argues that journalists reporting on new words often misconstrue the purpose of dictionaries."

So instead of trying to write my own piece, I'll give you some tidbits of what other folks are saying. Hop on board.

Henry Hitchings at the Telegraph observes that, "Hostility to a new word (candidates from the latest Chambers might include “webisode” and “OMG”) is fraught with unarticulated concerns about class, politics, propriety and taste."

The Oxford WordsBlog claims to have added "goldendoodle" so they could include a cute picture of the aforesaid canine on their blog (it is very cute).

The Eight-Track Museum bans the Oxford Concise English Dictionary, in retaliation for dropping the word "cassette tape"--see the story in the Huffington Post.

And Erin McKean in an interview with ABC News reminds us that Wordnik never deletes any words.