Sigh, and huzzah!

[pecunium]

The most recent update to the OED has come out.

Me, I am neither a prescriptavist, nor a descriptivist. I am a cranky iconoclast. I know what I like, and why I like it. I suppose, were I to be pressed, I am a precisionist; with a splash of throwback.

This comes, I think, of being a widely read auto-didact. I am aware of strange words, long out of fashion. Add to this a mix of friends who are much the same, and toss in fluency in three other languages, and the mix of things I have strong opinions on (often at odds with mainstream usage) is long.

I am among those who are appalled that the most recent update includes chaise lounge.

But that is just the dictionary looking at what is (because the vast majority, seem to me, to be better able to recognise the proper use of the subject/object declensions of the interogative personal pronoun than to take issue with chaise longue being morphed into lounge [esp. because lounging is what people do in them). I would rather see that be a lounge chair/chaise longue, but there you go.

On the other hand, what warms the cockles of my miserly little heart is this addition.

"prozine: Chiefly science fiction, a professional magazine, as opposed to an amateur fanzine"

My ghetto has made a small piece of the big time.

Comments

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

the most recent update includes chaise lounge.

*collapses in horror, fans self, reaches for vinagrette*

IS NOTHING SACRED?

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

Speaking of the OED, have you seen the Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick?

http://www.oedilf.com/db/Lim.php

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

My approach to orthography & usage is much like yours, with, perhaps, a bit more whimsicality, conscious ambiguity when it seem amusing, and mood-of-the-moment. Not to mention the sometimes-practice of using uppercase initial letters to suggest some kind of obscure Emphasis, a highly-idiosyncratic use of punctuation (especially commas) based more on vocal delivery pauses (the origin of most "pointing"/punctuation, according to Moxton's _Mechanck's Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing_) than on grammatical construction, and multiply-nested parentheses to encourage the reader to envision several layers of signification. But then, my enthusiasm has ever been for the field of Informal Writing, as close to Conversation (albeit, perhaps, rather erudite conversation) as practical.

You don't mention that the new edition of the Shorter OED has dealt severely with hyphenated words, either combining them into one or dropping the hyphen in favor of an (en-quad?) space. I expect to continue (and even expand) my fanzine-based practice of Combining (as in "email", "neopro", & "hyperactive") even though the oldtime consideration of the costs of stencils, paper, and postage is no longer applicable. As long as there doesn't seem to be a pressing Need to change old habits (such as using two spaces following a period), I don't propose to do it.

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

I am among those who are appalled that the most recent update includes chaise lounge.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

That's all I have to say, or rather, wail. :(

OED

[cliffjburns.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Terry:

I swear, with the next decent stipend that comes in from the movie stuff or anything else, I'm going to seriously look at getting a set of Oxford dictionaries. I saw a set for sale in the NEW YORKER for $895.00...I wonder how much I'd have to pay for a good used set. With the Canadian dollar now at parity with our Yank cousins, transactions like this look sweeter and sweeter. As a word guy, I would revere those Oxfords like the mummified body of Christ...

Have a good fall...klaatu barada nikto and all that...