Fictional Materials for OED

[Jonathan Lighter]

_Unobtainium_ is in the HDAS files from at least 1965.  GB offers more
than 200 exx., some older than that.

JL

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 6:23 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Fictional Materials for OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I have previously suggested that OED should have entries for "kryptonite"
> (Superman), the spice "melange" (Dune) and "ice-nine" (Cat's Cradle).  No
> one seemed particularly to agree with me, as I remember.
>
> I am inspired to return to this topic by noticing that Wikipedia has an
> article, "List of Fictional Elements, Materials, Isotopes and Atomic
> Particles."  This list supplies me with some additional candidates:
>
> adamantium (Wolverine)
> carbonite (The Empire Strikes Back)
> dilithium (Star Trek)
>
> After its use in the film Avatar, "unobtanium" may also merit OED
> inclusion.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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