[Ads-l] Fictional Materials for OED (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks, for pointing to the entry for "unobtanium", Bill. The earliest
citation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1956 is the one I
posted to the ADS mailing list during the discussion in April 2014.
Proud that I was able to help the OED linguists trace this fun word
(though the cite may have been found independently).

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2014-April/132262.html

Garson

On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 5:32 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US)
<william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
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> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Fictional Materials for OED (UNCLASSIFIED)
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> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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> I bet the fact that there are also non-SF uses of "carbonite" strongly infl=
> uenced the decision to include the Star Wars one.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Baker, John
>> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 4:31 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Fictional Materials for OED (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>=20
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>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Fictional Materials for OED (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>> --------
>>=20
>> "Carbonite" is also included.  Still no entry for "kryptonite," which I
>> wou=3D ld have said has the strongest claim of all.
>>=20
>>=20
>> John Baker
>>=20
>>=20
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of=3D  Mullins, Bill CIV (US)
>> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 5:22 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Fictional Materials for OED (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>=20
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>>=20
>> Fred's prediction has come true -- "unobtanium" is now listed in the
>> OED.
>>=20
>>=20
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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
>> >
>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> > ---=3D
>> ------
>> >
>> > 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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