Fictional Materials for OED

[Jonathan Lighter]

A quick look at GB reveals nearly 1,000 refs. to _kryptonite_.

Good enough for me.

JL

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fictional Materials for OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> What, no _Homo floresiensis_ "hobbits"?
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 9:57 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Fictional Materials for OED
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Just to show that there are some instances where the OED includes words
> > whose usage relates to a single book, even without figurative extension,
> the
> > word "hobbit" is included in the OED.  All of the citations are
> Tolkienian
> > references.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Dave
> > Wilton [dave at WILTON.NET]
> > Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 9:44 PM
> >  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Fictional Materials for OED
> >
> > I'm not sure that fictional names merit inclusion in a dictionary unless
> > they obtain wider use than in reference to the fictional works in which
> > they
> > originally appear. Otherwise the dictionary would be inundated with such
> > entries. Tolkien alone could probably supply a few hundred, "mithril,"
> > "silmarillion," "Rohirrim" to name a few off the top of my head. (I
> include
> > "Rohirrim" because why stop at fictional materials? Why not fictional
> > creatures, races, places, etc.?) (I just looked it up, and "mithril" has
> an
> > OED entry as of 2002. All but one of the citations is either by Tolkien
> or
> > a
> > reference to LOTR. I'm not sure about the last.) Capturing pop culture
> > terms
> > like this is a really good function for Wikipedia; I'm not sure other
> > reference works should try to compete.
> >
> > "Kryptonite" probably deserves a dictionary entry because it has
> > metaphorical uses beyond the Superman genre, and "unobtainium" has been
> in
> > widespread use as a jocular name for a supposed element for decades. I
> > don't
> > think the others qualify.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of
> > Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 3:24 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org