"Quidditch" Not in OED

[Shapiro, Fred]

I agree that "kryptonite" has a stronger claim to OED inclusion than "quidditch."  But my feeling is that any neologism that is important in the plot of a very popular work of fiction or a literary classic should strongly be considered for inclusion in the OED.  I am guessing that the OED's current policy against what I am advocating is an over-reaction against the academic criticism they get for having, in the past, "privileged" literary vocabulary.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jesse Sheidlower [jester at PANIX.COM]
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 11:17 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Quidditch" Not in OED

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 03:03:35PM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> I have frequently questioned the OED's policy of including neologisms from works of fiction only if they pass into broader or figurative usage.  It seems to me that a word like "kryptonite," which may not have much usage beyond references to Superman but has about 3.5 million Google hits, should be included.  Another example is "quidditch" from the Harry Potter books, with over 2 million Google hits.
>

For what it's worth, _kryptonite_ is in Oxford Dictionaries Online:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/kryptonite

There's an example sentence of the figurative use, "girls of her sort
are kryptonite to the developing hearts of adolescent boys". It seems
that this word, which is very widely used figuratively, has a much
better claim for entry than _quidditch_, which pretty much only refers
to the game in the HP books (or a non-magical game based on it, played
by fans). Compare _Muggle_, which is found in extended senses, and which
is included in OED.

Jesse Sheidlower

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