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Showing posts with the label Oxford English Dictionary

What is a 'ghost word'?

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The Second Edition of the 20-volume Complete Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use. An estimated 240 of  these are ghost words.

How fast is the English language expanding?

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Recent research suggests that the English language has doubled in size over the last century.

Why do we say 'Good' Friday?

It may seem odd that Christians call their day  of greatest sorrow   Good Friday .  The confusion arises from how we perceive the word 'Good'. Here it is used in the archaic sense of 'holy' or momentous. Good Friday, called  Feria VI in  Parasceve  in the  Roman Missal ,  he hagia kai megale paraskeue  (the  Holy  and Great Friday) in the  Greek Liturgy ,  Holy Friday  in Romance Languages,  Charfreitag  (Sorrowful Friday) in  German , is the  English  designation of Friday in  Holy Week     source In other words,  Good marks the uniqueness of the Passion . It affirms the centrality of the crucifixion and resurrection to the Christian faith. Short essay :  Where does the word Easter come from? Passover? Good Friday?

Most versatile word in English?

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Language with the most words?

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Where does the word OK come from?

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The word OK entered American English in the 19th century and is now one of the most popular in the language. But there is little agreement as to its origins.

Which language has the most words?

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Top 10 words with the most entries in the Oxford English Dictionary?

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Here are the words with the most separate entries in the OED:

Top 10 words with most OED entries? What do they have in common?

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What is a hedge fund? And what does it mean to hedge your bets?

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Hedge funds are companies which pool capital from wealthy clients with a view to maximising return. They invest in all asset classes - bonds, equities etc - and  because of the scale of their investments can profit from small price movements. The largest hedge funds are also 'market makers' - their investment decisions influence others. The verb "to hedge" means to "insure oneself against loss but some successful hedge fund managers have been very aggressive in their investment strategies. The  credit-default swaps  market (famously described by Warren Buffett as 'weapons of mass financial destruction') is an example of this. In general English 'hedging your bets' is to approach an uncertain situation by taking action to cover a variety of outcomes. When a bookmaker receives a large bet on a particular result, he will generally 'lay off' the bet with another bookmaker. This mean by betting a smaller amount on the opposite outcome.

How many new words are entering the English language?

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According to new research, the English language has doubled in size over the last century . It continues to grow ' by 8,500 words a year' and now stands at 1,022,000 words .'  And the speed of this growth is accelerating :  The language has grown by more than 70 per cent since 1950 .... The previous half century it only grew by 10 per cent ...     source Are all these new words in the dictionary ? English does not have an equivalent version of the Académie française. The only official recognition comes with an entry in the  Oxford English Dictionary  (OED). Interestingly much of this new vocabulary has not been formally recognised. Nearly half of the new words are not included in any dictionary and are dubbed lexical "dark matter". They are either slang or invented jargon.       Why does the OED restrict the words it includes? Because there are so many words in English! The OED is already more than three times bigger than the equivalent dicti

What is a metanarrative?

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The definition of metanarrative is earnestly debated in faculty lounges and hipster coffee-bars. Here is one attempt: a narrative  about  narratives of historical meaning, experience or knowledge, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealised) master idea.    J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds.,  The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism  (1995) p. 186 What does this mean in comprehensible English?  I can make no sense of 'narratives of historic meaning' but the meta here seems to be defined as 'wider' or 'overarching'.  So for a Marxist the story of the Russian Revolution forms part of the wider metanarrative of the (supposed) history of class struggle. Terms like  metanarrative  have emerged from the influence of post-modernism on leading universities in the West.  Matt Labash  is one of many to question whether this influence has been entirely beneficial. What is a meme? What does m

What does 'meta' mean? What is meta-language?

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Thanks to Ms Langley's Year 11 English class for this Wordle The prefix meta - as in metalanguage, metanarrative etc - is very difficult to pin down. In broad terms meta means 'about itself' - so metalanguage is the language of language. For example a language teacher might use metalanguage like  lexicon or  past perfect in a lesson plan. This is reasonably comprehensible, though some might argue that a less fancy-pants alternative would be technical-terms or even jargon. It could also be argued that unlike other words with the meta prefix (see metatnarrative)  metalanguage has at least the advantage of precision e.g. teachers should avoid using complex metalanguage in the classroom. And it can be useful for teaching identifying the concepts that underpin language learning. What is a meme? What is a metanarrative? Mrs Langley's English Class Wiki

When does one woot?

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When having fun on a computer! Woot is one of the most surprising new entries to the OED. It is used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph (especially in electronic communication. Apparently its popularity derives from online gaming and role play. Oxford Dictionary of English New Oxford American Dictionary

English Language FAQ: The most common spelling errors in English?

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English Language FAQ: The most common spelling errors in English? : "Why are some words so hard to spell? My post for the OUP Global Blog considers recent research into the twenty most misspelt words in Engl..." Practical Spelling (Basics Made Easy) Franklin Electronic Publishers SA-309 Spelling Ace Thesaurus with Merriam-Webster Puzzle solver

The most common spelling errors in English?

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Why are some words so hard to spell?  My post for the OUP Global Blog  considers recent research into the twenty most misspelt words in English. The Birds and Bees of Words: A Guide to the Most Common Errors in Usage, Spelling, and Grammar Quick Solutions to Common Errors in English: An A-z Guide to Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (How to Books)

What is 'the groove'? And groovy?

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The groove on vinyl records, particularly the old 78s rpm jazz records of the 20s and 30s. The depth and width of the groove indicated the speed and beat - something later picked up by early rappers like Grandmaster Flash.  Jazz musicians used 'groove' as a term of appreciation and this later became part of pop music culture - the Beatles were famously fond of the adjective groovy. Much later 'groovy' became one of the catch-phrases Austen Powers, a sign that the word had come to symobolise 1960s fantasies of  personal liberation and free love.

OMG! Why did the Oxford English Dictionary include OMG?

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Because the OED tries to reflect the language as spoken and written. English is as Richard Lederer pointed out 'the most democratic language in history'.  To learn about the process by which words are selected see this interview with the OED editor. Oxford Dictionary of English Concise Oxford English Dictionary: 11th Edition Revised 2008 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: Sixth Edition

Is English an 'easy' language to learn?

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Not according to millions of student of English as a foreign language! But English does have some 'user friendly features as an OUP lexicographer explains in this short extract from a BBC interview Easy English (ESL)

Who manages the English language?

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There is no official academy of English as there is with French, Spanish and other European languages. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the closest we have to such an authority.  How does the OED decide which words to include? It accepts a new word if it is commonly used over a period of time.  More on how this works  here Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary  Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Dictionary & CD ROM) Concise Oxford English Dictionary: 11th Edition Revised 2008 Oxford English Dictionary: 20 vol. print set & CD ROM