a faux-WOTY after all

[Barnhart]

Larry Horn wrote:

>I had high hopes reading today's Times article (first page, SundayStyles
>section) about bras ("Quest to Soothe the Savage Breast", by Penelope
>Green), which had several mentions of "outplants", defined here as "a
>couple of ounces of silicone and Lycra...-just one of many new bras
>designed to give you a competitive edge, or at least make you feel like
>the
>heroine of a Barbara Cartland nove.  Implants, who needs 'em?"

>But I did turn up a couple of other relevant hits (not counting the
>wayward
>verb forms) of 'outplant(s)' on Nexis.

When my father and I began work on The Barnhart Dictionary Companion,
one question that we had to tackle was that of "newness."  Our solution
was that if a term did not appear in the dictionary record of English
we could deal with it.  Cases like bloviation notwithstanding, it has
worked pretty well at dealing with new words.

Allan Metcalf came up with the idea of word of the year at an ADS
meeting in California, Los Angeles as I recall.  The original objective
was to get media attention through a survey of the words that had
gathered attention in "Among the New Words" and the Dictionary
Companion and among the members of the society in the then current
year.  Most of the candidates have been attested only in the preceding
few years.  To cover the "brand-spanking  new" words we have recently
included that category--although categories come  an go.  _Outplant_ is
evidently not a brand-spanking new word.  Nevertheless, to those who
depend upon them, they are not unnecessary.  I would opt for placing
_outplant_ in the most outrageous category.

Regards,
David

David K. Barnhart, Editor
The Barnhart Dictionary Companion [quarterly]
barnhart at highlands.com
www.highlands.com/Lexik

"Necessity obliges us to neologize."
Thomas Jefferson-August 16, 1813