An artist has discovered a list of "millions" of "non-words" in the Oxford English Dictionary vaults.
Luke Ngakane, a graphic designer from London, found out about the trove of unused words during research for a project. He plans to print 39 of the words on paper for his degree at Kingston University.
The vault contains words that were submitted for entry to the OED but rejected because they were uncommon or too faddish. They include "earworm"—a catchy tune you can't get out of your head—and "vidiot"—a person who has difficulty using video technology.
Ngakane told the Daily Telegraph (London) he was fascinated by what he described as a "hush-hush vault." When he approached the OED for permission to access the vault, he was denied, but they provided him with some samples.
Linguists have ridiculed the Telegraph's handling of the story, however, saying there is nothing secretive about such archives.
OED adviser Michael Quinion said it was "quite the daftest dictionary-related story I have ever read." He described the vault as "actually a rather boring office filled with filing cabinets housing citation slips."
Telegraph columnist Christopher Howse agreed, saying, "Fiddlesticks! It is no more secret than the stockpiled light bulbs in the cupboard under my stairs, which have yet to receive media attention."
Lexicographer Benjamin Zimmer wrote that the words listed by the Telegraph were mainly "ephemeral ad-hoc coinages that would never be seriously considered by any major dictionary."
Other words have already appeared in smaller volumes such as the Concise OED, Zimmer said, and may well appear in future editions of the "magisterial" OED, which is revised much less frequently.
16 August 2010
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