"empath" as lexicographic lacuna (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

It is in "Brave New Words", though.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 10:08 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "empath" as lexicographic lacuna
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      "empath" as lexicographic lacuna
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> Acrostic spoiler ahead...
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> Word P in yesterday's NYT Acrostic is clued as "One who knows
> how you feel", and I inferred  the correct answer, _EMPATH_,
> partly by virtue of an instance of synchronicity that points
> to an odd omission:  In _The Narrows_, a 2004 novel by
> Michael Connelly I'm currently reading, the term is applied
> to those FBI agents who take their cases personally.  I was
> curious about when the word was first attested, and to my
> surprise _empath_ is unlisted in either the (online) OED or
> AHD4, despite the fact that it has both a wikipedia entry
> (albeit largely devoted to the science-fiction ESP-y variety
> of empath as opposed to the more general sense invoked by
> Connelly's FBI agent and the Acrostic designers) and "about
> 730,000" raw g-hits for the word.
>
> LH
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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