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Tag: oed

Science and the OED

In posts on 24 October 2008 tagged oed, personal, science, talk with 2 comments

As part of the 2008 Manchester Science Festival, I will be giving a talk on Saturday 1 November called Science and the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s taking place at the Museum of Science and Industry (map) in Manchester, and starts at 1:30pm. Please come along! It’s free to enter, and there’s no need to book in advance. Get there early though, as I’m entirely sure that there’s going to be a rush for seats.

Link

History of the Predictive Text Swearing Commission

In posts on 17 August 2008 tagged humour, oed, video with no comments

The history of the Predictive Text Swearing Commission.

“Our job, Gilbert, is to offer people not the words that they do use, but the words they should use… Which is why when someone types in 2625 we offer them coal, or ambl, but we do not offer them cock.”

“Or anal!”

This, of course, is exactly how it works in the OED office. Or at least, how it used to:

Julian Barnes told readers of Harpers & Queen that..he had ‘once tried to get blow-job into the OED Supplement and presented my admittedly thin evidence to the editor. He considered my application but declined it. “I’m afraid there isn’t as much of this about as you imagine,” he commented sympathetically, and so in 1972 the term was deemed not to exist.’

Swearing or ‘vulgar’ terms have no problem getting recognition now, however: the recently-revised entry for fuck gives the word the full treatment it deserves.

[Quotation from Treasure-house of the Language by Charlotte Brewer, p. 225.]

He’s got gawm

In posts on 28 May 2008 tagged oed, words with 1 comment

I’ve often wondered what it is that somebody who is said to be gormless is lacking: what is this gorm that gives the majority of people the ability to keep their mouth shut when walking around? The answer is to be found in the OED, which defines gome (or gom, gawm) as:

Heed, attention, notice, care.

Unfortunately, this word has become (very) obsolete, with the latest quotes given being from 1877 and c1410. A shame: it seems being able to go about without showing the general public the inside of your mouth has become a sadly underrated skill in the last few centuries.