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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:	The Joy of Lex
Notice:	A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:	THEBAY::SYSTEM

Created:	Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1192
Total number of notes:	42769

1064.0. "New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary available." by PASTIS::MONAHAN (humanity is a trojan horse) Wed Sep 01 1993 02:49

    	I am cross posting this without the permission of the person who
    entered the note in the other file, but since the original information
    is a public press release I doubt if anyone will object too strongly.
    
    
                <<< VANGA::DKB200:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EF93.NOTE;2 >>>
                             -< General Debating >-
================================================================================
Note 5.1228  All the news that's fit to be downloaded from Reuter'  1228 of 1235
HOO78C::ANDERSON "Green wellies is the life for me" 100 lines   1-SEP-1993 07:32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    RTw  08/31 2233  NEW DICTIONARY RECORDS THE ERA OF GRUNGE, QUARKS ...

    NEW DICTIONARY RECORDS THE ERA OF GRUNGE, QUARKS AND AIDS

    By Anne Senior

    LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuter) - Grunge, punk, scuzz, dweeb, quark, yuppie,
    AIDS. Glasnost, political corrrectness, female condom, floppy disc.

    All these terms testify to 20 years of linguistic and social history
    recorded in a new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary -- the bible
    of the serious student and general guide to the language.

    A revised New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary replacing the old 1973
    edition is about to roll off the presses with a host of words unknown
    in the era of the Beatles and moon-landings, when computers were often
    bulky machines and a mouse was still just a rodent.

    Publisher Oxford University Press bills its work as "the fullest
    general dictionary of contemporary English" and "the dictionary
    publishing event of the decade" after 13 years of research and a three
    million pound ($4.5 million) investment.

    But this is no pocket reference book for the poor speller, coming in
    two fat volumes containing 7.5 million words of text and costing 60
    pounds ($90) for the basic set and 70 pounds ($105) for one with a
    thumb index.

    Around 10,000 copies of the dictionary are sold a year.

    First published in 1933 and revised every 20 years, the book has acted
    as a catalogue of new words entering the language and the changing
    meanings of older expressions.

    American street slang, the vocabulary of the disease AIDS, and
    political fashions like free-market Thatcherism and Reaganomics all
    make a first appearance among the 500,000 entries in the modern lexicon
    to be launched on September 7.

    "I think that you would find that in the '70s edition there was a very
    narrow range of words that were new to the post-war world. The bulk of
    the dictionary reflected a taking-stock of language before the middle
    of the century," said lexicographer Edmund Weiner who worked on the
    dictionary team.

    Traditionalists who regard Oxford English as a standard of gentility
    may be shocked to find a wide selection of derogatory terms -- dweeb
    (boringly conventional, puny or studious person), scuzz (unpleasant
    person), gonzo (crazy person), plonker (foolish or inept person) and
    many more.

    "There may be some criticism but this reveals an unawareness that all
    current dictionaries include a wide range of slang," said Weiner in an
    interview. "If you describe language in its current form you have to
    describe all of it, not decide what is good English and bad English."

    But the new word which has really captured Britain's imagination is not
    an insult, at least not officially.

    Majorism, defined as the political and economic policies of British
    Prime Minister John Major, drew hoots of laughter from newspaper
    critics who said the explanation was as bland and ineffectual as the
    British leader's political agenda.

    The Independent newspaper has challenged readers to come up with a
    better definition of the word, offering a first prize of a trip to
    Maastricht, the Dutch town where the European Community (EC) drew up
    its blueprint for closer union.

    Surprisingly, Maastricht does not appear in the dictionary although the
    much-publicised policy of subsidiarity, the idea of devolving power
    from EC bureaucrats in Brussels to local level wherever possible, does
    find a place.

    Readers' suggestions for Majorism include: "morbid love of indecision
    and false promises," "a form of genteel prevarication in politics" and
    "a nervous disease causing the sufferer to imagine themselves a world
    statesman whilst everyone else considers them a standing joke."

    Real dictionary entries reflect a world where science and technology
    have made laptop a household word and given technical terms like quark,
    a sub-atomic particle, some common currency.

    Punk rock and grunge (a musical style characterised by a raucous guitar
    sound and a lazy delivery) are noted as well the phenomena of
    masculinism, a male response to feminism meaning advocacy of men's
    rights, and political correctness, conformity to a body of liberal or
    radical opinion.

    The growth of world markets in the boom 1980s brought Big Bang, meaning
    financial deregulation as well as the violent explosion of matter in
    space, and meltdown to mean a steep drop in value. It was the age of
    the yuppie (young urban professional) sporting the Filofax (personal
    organiser).

    Wordsmiths can also savour obscure words such as ovicide, the killing
    of a sheep and the last word in the book, zythum, a ancient malt drink.

    REUTER

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1064.1	W9CD was terribly inaccurate about "New Wave", as well	ESGWST::RDAVIS	Live monkey brain	`Wed Sep 01 1993 16:55`	4
	One reason I bought the Random House "Websters" was its superior definition of "hard core". Ray
1064.2		JIT081::DIAMOND	Pardon me? Or must I be a criminal?	`Wed Sep 01 1993 19:14`	2
	The press release only talks about words that were added. Wouldn't that make it the New Longer Shorter OED?
1064.3	it's a wash	RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER	The cake of liberty	`Thu Sep 02 1993 06:45`	2
	A lot of the "new" words they bragged about in the previous release were bumped from this one.
1064.4	Contrariwisely...	KERNEL::MORRIS	Which universe did you dial?	`Mon Sep 06 1993 05:55`	13
	re. .2 > The press release only talks about words that were added. > Wouldn't that make it the New Longer Shorter OED? I would have thought "Now Longer New Shorter OED" more fun. Or since they have revised and published a new OED ("Now Longer Longer New OED"), you might prefer "Now Longer Shorter New Longer OED". My, this could go on all day........ Jon
1064.5		ATYISB::HILL	Come on lemmings, let's go!	`Thu Nov 25 1993 07:31`	8
	Father Christmas visited early this year in my household and so I have a copy of the NSOED. Today I found a typo in it... 'fuel', misspelt as 'feuel' Nick
1064.6		JIT081::DIAMOND	$ SET MIDNIGHT	`Thu Nov 25 1993 17:36`	1
	April feuel.
1064.7		HERON::KAISER		`Fri Nov 26 1993 00:18`	3
	In France one occasionally sees heating oil called "fioul". ___Pete
1064.8	How else?	FORTY2::KNOWLES	Integrated Service: 2B+O	`Fri Nov 26 1993 02:36`	8
	But that's the only way to spell When a poor man came in sight Gath'ring winter fe-u-el Most appropriate for a Christmas present. b
1064.9		GVPROD::BARTA	Gabriel Barta/SNO-ITOps/Geneva	`Sun Nov 28 1993 02:26`	5
	In the NSOED, there is apparently another typo: under "indebted", an occurrence of "debt" is spelt "dept". Perhaps someone who has the NSOED will find it. In fact, OUP is quoted as saying that there is on average one typo per 250,000 signs (characters).
1064.10	Reference: VERBATIM	GVPROD::BARTA	Gabriel Barta/SNO-ITOps/Geneva	`Sun Nov 28 1993 02:27`	2
	By the way, the FASCINATING info in the previous reply is from an absolutely JOY-OF-LEX-ish periodical called VERBATIM.
1064.11		VANINE::LOVELL	� l'eau; c'est l'heure	`Mon Nov 29 1993 06:38`	7
	Gabriel, Please post the info on Verbatim here. I'd like to take out a subscription. Veritably, Chris.
1064.12	Re .9 and 'debt' misspelling	ATYISB::HILL	Come on lemmings, let's go!	`Wed Dec 01 1993 02:17`	7
	I checked my NSOED and could not find a typo of 'debt' in any of the entries for 'indebted' or 'debt'. For some of their examples NSOED use the Authorised Version of the Bible, which uses an older spelling of many words. Nick
1064.13	Verbatim	NLFDC::LEE		`Wed Dec 01 1993 03:51`	4
	Repeating earlier request: could someone post the address (and possibly telephone number) of Verbatim. Ta muchly. -Sim
1064.14	This side or that?	FORTY2::KNOWLES	Integrated Service: 2B+O	`Wed Dec 01 1993 05:55`	4
	UK distributor or US home a/d? I could look out the former if any UK-based noter were interested. b
1064.15		GVPROD::BARTA	Gabriel Barta/SNO-ITOps/Geneva	`Tue Dec 07 1993 00:42`	6
	OK, OK, hold your horses. Been out of the office for a few days. I'll look it up today at lunchtime, unless I forget. It's a transatlantic rag, with addresses on both sides. The editor (Lawrence Urdang) is American, and a small majority of the articles are from Britain.
1064.16	Here it is	GVPROD::BARTA	Gabriel Barta/SNO-ITOps/Geneva	`Wed Dec 08 1993 05:58`	33
	About the misprint: sorry all, it was in OED2, not the NSOED at all. Apparently, there's a "residual error rate" of 1 in every 250,000 characters in it. About "Verbatim", I forgot yesterday but not today. Verbatim The language quarterly Editor: Laurence Urdang (sorry, Laurence, I spelt you "Lawrence" before) ISSN 0162-0932 Mailed quarterly at 8205 Zionsville Rd, Indianapolis IN 46268 Business & editorial offices (but NOT subscriptions): 4 Laurel Heights Old Lyme CT 06371 Subscriptions (payment in US dollars or pounds Sterling ONLY; credit cards accepted are Visa and MasterCard only): U.S./Canada: $US 16.50/yr or �11.50/yr Elsewhere: $US 20.00/yr or �11.50/yr First class: $US 3.00/yr extra (U.S. only) Airmail: $US 12.00/yr extra (anywhere) Order from (UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East): Mrs. Hazel Hall Verbatim P.O.Box 199 Aylesbury Bucks HP20 2HY U.K. (North America) Tel. (800)999-2266 or Verbatim P.O.Box 78008 Indianapolis IN 46278-0008 USA. Submissions may be send to Old Lyme or Aylesbury.
1064.17	Thank you	NLFDC::LEE		`Fri Dec 10 1993 03:50`	3
	Re .-1. Thanks. I was out of the office for a few days myself. -Sim
1064.18	OED on CD-ROM -- Availability & price?	LJSRV2::KALIKOW	SERVE<a href="SURF_GLOBAL">LOCAL</a>	`Sun Dec 18 1994 17:10`	5
	My son-in-law is about to receive his Master's Degree in English at San Jos� State. I thought that a suitable gift might be a CD-ROM of the OED, if such exists (I think I've heard of that) and it's not hugely exorbitant in cost. Any pointers/info gratefully appreciated! :-)
1064.19		SMURF::BINDER	vitam gustare	`Mon Dec 19 1994 07:01`	4
	It exists, Dan, but the cost is in excess of $800.00, and the user interface is so crude as to verge on unusability. On the plus side, it's got a VERY powerful search engine, for the really dedicated geeks among us.
1064.20		LJSRV2::KALIKOW	SERVE<a href="SURF_GLOBAL">LOCAL</a>	`Mon Dec 19 1994 09:21`	5
	You actually HAVE this paragon of lexicography? Might one do a pilgrimage to view its ugly UI in action? About the price -- Yeesh!!! For libraries and Croesi only, I guess...
1064.21		SMURF::BINDER	vitam gustare	`Mon Dec 19 1994 13:32`	5
	No, I don't have it. I couldn't stomach the price, either. And I'd have thought twice anyway after seeing the UI. The fact that I'd have had to buy an intel 'puter to run it on also slowed me down... :-) Indeed, only Croesi and Crassi need apply.
1064.22		JRDV04::DIAMOND	segmentation fault (california dumped)	`Mon Dec 19 1994 16:23`	4
	>The fact that I'd have had to buy an intel 'puter to run it on >also slowed me down... :-) Nah, it just changed the price a few bits.
1064.23		SMURF::BINDER	vitam gustare	`Mon Dec 19 1994 18:29`	8
	Re .22 > Nah, it just changed the price a few bits. Norman, you have no concept of the depth of my antipathy toward the idea of owning an intel 'puter. :-) -dick
1064.24	Alternatively	FORTY2::KNOWLES		`Tue Dec 20 1994 06:33`	21
	When the OED CD-ROM hit the streets over here it was priced at �499 - 800-and-some dollars strikes me as a pretty good price (maybe a bit cheaper than the sterling version, allowing for inflation). It compares very favourably with a hard-copy price of four figures (in anyone's money) - especially with all the on-line extras you get for your money. If that price is too much there's something more reasonable (�49, I think, but don't quote me) for another OUP CD-ROM called something like `The Writer's Bookshelf'. It includes four of the more popular OUP reference works (Concise OED, Thesaurus, and two more prosey titles - maybe the Concise Dictionary of National Biography and the Dictionary of Proverbs). Whatever they are, the selection is bound to be different for the US market (as, in `DNB', `National' stands for us lot). I haven't seen this CD-ROM working, Dan, [saw an ad about a year ago in a trade paper that rejoices in the title `Bookseller - the Organ of the Publishing Trade'; familiarly known as `the Organ'; but I digress] but I assume it's got on-line searches and stuff like that. b
1064.25		SMURF::BINDER	vitam gustare	`Tue Dec 20 1994 06:47`	10
	Re .24 Actually, Bob, $800 is pretty close to �499 if you figure sterling at $1.60 == �1. Pricing seems consistent. I haven't seen the other CD you mention; but the point of having the OED is to have the whole OED, with its myriad digressions and citations and excerpts. -dick
1064.26	Re .24 tnx, Bob -- �49 I could handle... :-)	LJSRV2::KALIKOW	SERVE<a href="SURF_GLOBAL">LOCAL</a>	`Tue Dec 20 1994 14:07`	1

1064.27	Got a $50 CD-ROM... 1870 books on it, plus video/audio clips!	LJSRV2::KALIKOW	SERVE<a href="SURF_GLOBAL">LOCAL</a>	`Tue Dec 27 1994 11:10`	24
	At Brentano's, I found a lovely CD-ROM from Personal Library Systems, just perfect for the budding English Professor... Along with I'm-sure- forgettable audio clips from various notables like Bob Saget (what's the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos" doing there?) and other 19th-magnitude luminaries, and the occasional book illustration, the box claims that this one disk contains the full, searchable text of some 1800-odd books of famous world literature from Cicero to perhaps Hemingway. Even the partial list was mind-boggling. I can't wait to visit 'em in the Valley and take a gander at this -- we don't have CD-ROM drives on any of our local CPUs. I got to thinking how expensive, and how damned HEAVY, that gift would have been, had I bought it in original format... and how much less utilitarian (to be sure, I use that last term in the cutting-edge sense). So to emphasize that fact, I wrapped the box up nicely, put a pretty greeting card signed by Debby & me on it, and then strapped the whole shebang to TWO CONCRETE BLOCKS, and covered it all with a pillowcase. The effect, when he unveiled his present, was wonderfully confusing!! :-) Tnx to all for the help & advice...