What could happen if the cosmos throws a rock at us...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
A minor outrage
Tip to Ross Douthat at The Atlantic for this story highlighting changes over time to the Oxford Junior Dictionary.
Usually, I feel progressive but this is one of those times that I feel downright reactionary. OK, so they have a limited number of pages (and therefore words) and need to make some choices about what to include. Fine.
But it's a sad day indeed when words like 'newt' and 'clover' are put to pasture in order to make way for 'voicemail' and 'committee.'
'MP3 player' had best not get too comfortable. They've already removed 'diesel' (diesel!) which has carried its meaning for less than 120 years.
Sigh...
Original Telegraph article here.
Usually, I feel progressive but this is one of those times that I feel downright reactionary. OK, so they have a limited number of pages (and therefore words) and need to make some choices about what to include. Fine.
But it's a sad day indeed when words like 'newt' and 'clover' are put to pasture in order to make way for 'voicemail' and 'committee.'
'MP3 player' had best not get too comfortable. They've already removed 'diesel' (diesel!) which has carried its meaning for less than 120 years.
Sigh...
Original Telegraph article here.
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