Playing the word game
September 17, 2006 | 12:00am
BIRD FLU, BLOGOSPHERE, ISLAMA-phobe and MP3 player have made it into the latest Chambers Dictionary, the august work of record used by crossword fans and Scrabble players the world over.
At 1,800 pages of dictionary text–1,872 with supplements–and about 270,000 definitions of approximately 150,000 words, the new edition out next month updates its predecessor from 2003.
But billing the 500 or so words as new is something of a misnomer: they have all been more or less common currency for the last three years or more; the only new thing is their first appearance in the dictionary.
For example, global fears over an outbreak of new entry "SARS"– severe acute respiratory syndrome–was at its height in 2003.
"Sex up"–"to make more interesting or attractive"–emerged from Britain’s exaggerated claims about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons capability to justify military action in the same year.
"Congestion charge"–the fee levied on motorists to drive into central London–also makes it in, three years after it was introduced to widespread controversy and even longer since it was first mooted.
It’s even arguable that "arm candy"–someone invited to a social event more for their looks than personality–and "salad dodger"– "a person with an unhealthy diet"– haven’t been used much since then.
As Samuel Johnson, the celebrated author of the "Dictionary of the English Language" in 1755, put it: "Dictionaries are like watches: the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true."
That and the ever-increasing speed of language change is a fact not lost on publishers Chambers Harrap and its main competitors: instant technology increasingly highlights the deficiencies of the old medium of print.
Take "Pluto" for example: Its recent downgrading as a planet means Chambers’ entry is already obsolete and will have to be reworked, as will the definition of "planet" and other associated terms, editor Ian Brookes told AFP.
Elaine Higgleton, HarperCollins’ editorial director for dictionaries, said: "Probably the market for print dictionaries is declining already. People are already switching to different forms of delivery...
"An awful lot is available on-line... I think there will still be a market for print dictionaries but inevitably, it’s going to develop when people rely more and more on their one piece of technology."
There are a huge number of web sites devoted to a task once the preserve of what Johnson called the "harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words"–the lexicographer.
Word definitions can already be sent by text message while amateur wordsmiths can indulge their passions at web sites like HarperCollins’ Word Exchange or the celebrated Oxford English Dictionary’s Ask Oxford.
Later this year HarperCollins, which publishes Collins English Dictionary, is planning to launch a series of downloadable dictionaries, including one for MP3 players that is being billed as "iTunes for words".
"The end game for dictionary publishers across the board involves content that is also electronic," said Brookes. "The way technology moves means we can access much more quickly information about words and how they are used."
Technological advances are also changing the work of the lexicographer.
Gone are the days of shoeboxes stuffed with ink-scrawled index cards; now computer programs automatically search for words and offer definitions, from sources like television programs to celebrity magazines.
The Chambers Dictionary is itself created using data from software that monitors the latest English words and meanings all year round.
According to Brookes, the web is democratizing the charting of English that in times past typically involved fusty academics, old maids and even a deranged genius locked up in a mental asylum for murder– who was one of the main contributors to the first edition of the OED.
For the moment though, print still has its place, Brookes and Higgleton said, with the Internet acting as a filter, testing the durability of new words and phrases.
"We are waiting a bit for words to become constant before we include them in the (print) dictionary," Brookes said.
"We’re offering a bit more of a considered view. We have something to offer that’s not on-line... We can offer authority and expertise of doing this over a long period of time." – AFP
At 1,800 pages of dictionary text–1,872 with supplements–and about 270,000 definitions of approximately 150,000 words, the new edition out next month updates its predecessor from 2003.
But billing the 500 or so words as new is something of a misnomer: they have all been more or less common currency for the last three years or more; the only new thing is their first appearance in the dictionary.
For example, global fears over an outbreak of new entry "SARS"– severe acute respiratory syndrome–was at its height in 2003.
"Sex up"–"to make more interesting or attractive"–emerged from Britain’s exaggerated claims about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons capability to justify military action in the same year.
"Congestion charge"–the fee levied on motorists to drive into central London–also makes it in, three years after it was introduced to widespread controversy and even longer since it was first mooted.
It’s even arguable that "arm candy"–someone invited to a social event more for their looks than personality–and "salad dodger"– "a person with an unhealthy diet"– haven’t been used much since then.
As Samuel Johnson, the celebrated author of the "Dictionary of the English Language" in 1755, put it: "Dictionaries are like watches: the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true."
That and the ever-increasing speed of language change is a fact not lost on publishers Chambers Harrap and its main competitors: instant technology increasingly highlights the deficiencies of the old medium of print.
Take "Pluto" for example: Its recent downgrading as a planet means Chambers’ entry is already obsolete and will have to be reworked, as will the definition of "planet" and other associated terms, editor Ian Brookes told AFP.
Elaine Higgleton, HarperCollins’ editorial director for dictionaries, said: "Probably the market for print dictionaries is declining already. People are already switching to different forms of delivery...
"An awful lot is available on-line... I think there will still be a market for print dictionaries but inevitably, it’s going to develop when people rely more and more on their one piece of technology."
There are a huge number of web sites devoted to a task once the preserve of what Johnson called the "harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words"–the lexicographer.
Word definitions can already be sent by text message while amateur wordsmiths can indulge their passions at web sites like HarperCollins’ Word Exchange or the celebrated Oxford English Dictionary’s Ask Oxford.
Later this year HarperCollins, which publishes Collins English Dictionary, is planning to launch a series of downloadable dictionaries, including one for MP3 players that is being billed as "iTunes for words".
"The end game for dictionary publishers across the board involves content that is also electronic," said Brookes. "The way technology moves means we can access much more quickly information about words and how they are used."
Technological advances are also changing the work of the lexicographer.
Gone are the days of shoeboxes stuffed with ink-scrawled index cards; now computer programs automatically search for words and offer definitions, from sources like television programs to celebrity magazines.
The Chambers Dictionary is itself created using data from software that monitors the latest English words and meanings all year round.
According to Brookes, the web is democratizing the charting of English that in times past typically involved fusty academics, old maids and even a deranged genius locked up in a mental asylum for murder– who was one of the main contributors to the first edition of the OED.
For the moment though, print still has its place, Brookes and Higgleton said, with the Internet acting as a filter, testing the durability of new words and phrases.
"We are waiting a bit for words to become constant before we include them in the (print) dictionary," Brookes said.
"We’re offering a bit more of a considered view. We have something to offer that’s not on-line... We can offer authority and expertise of doing this over a long period of time." – AFP
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