Words from Popular Literature Not in OED

[Jeff Prucher]

--- Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> My point is that the original OED included many words solely on the basis
> of their usage in major literary (or even not-so-major literary) works.
> I am not sure whether the same policy is being followed in the current
> revision.  My question is perhaps a politically incorrect one, since the
> usual criticism of OED nowadays is the opposite, that the original OED
> privileged literary usage over demotic usage (although I am using
> "literary" in a very demotic sense, as illustrated by my examples from
> Vonnegut and Superman Comics).

I wasn't aware of (or had forgotten) this aspect of the OED's word selection.
I agree, certainly, that if the OED is continuing in this practice, it should
include major "popular" as well as "literary" works.  FWIW, I do note that the
latest edition of the Shorter OED (which is editorially distinct from the OED
itself, AKAIK) does include an entry for "dilithium" which is a word used, to
the best of my knowledge, solely in the Star Trek universe, and which has not
picked up any allusive or figurative uses that I'm aware of, so at least some
of Oxford's dictionaries appear to be continuing this practice.

> > Editor, BRAVE NEW WORDS: THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE FICTION
> > Forthcoming Spring 2007
>
> Is this a historical dictionary with citations of first use?

It is indeed.  It's built in large part off the data from the OED science
fiction citation project (http://www.jessesword.com/sf), which I've also been
involved with for some time.

Jeff Prucher


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Editor, BRAVE NEW WORDS: THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE FICTION
Forthcoming Spring, 2007




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