The Words We Use

Yesterday I wrote about "comfort food" and The Oxford English Dictionary adding the definition for "comfort food" only in 1997. 

  Image from Oxford University Press

Synchronicity:  On this day in 1884, the first portion, or fascicle, of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, was published. Today, the OED is the definitive authority on the meaning, pronunciation, and etymology of over half a million words, past and present

According to History.com:  Plans for the dictionary began in 1857 when members of London’s Philological Society, who believed there were no up-to-date, error-free English dictionaries available, decided to produce one that would cover all vocabulary from the Anglo-Saxon period (1150 A.D.) to the present. Conceived of as a four-volume, 6,400-page work, it was estimated the project would take 10 years to finish. In fact, it took over 40 years until the 125th and final fascicle was published in April 1928 and the full dictionary was complete–at over 400,000 words and phrases in 10 volumes–and published under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.

Today, at a whopping 20 volumes weighing over 137 pounds, it would reportedly take one person 120 years to type all 59 million words in the OED

Which reminds me of the Steven Wright observation, "If a work in the dictionary was misspelled, how would we know?"

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com