The Lowdown on the OED

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Title: The Meaning of Everything

Author: Simon Winchester

Genre: History

Read: 15th June 2005




Comments: A fun and enlightening read. These days we tend to take dictionaries for granted, but reading this book will give you a new appreciation for the true enormity of the task of creating one. Begun in 1860 and not published until 1928 the finished dictionary was the product of hundreds of contributors and 4 main editors. After reading this, you'll thank them the next time you need to look something up. (And to think that Johnson and Webster wrote their dictionaries practically single-handedly!)

Quote: "May you live to see Zymotic!" <== a well-wisher to the editors of the Dictionary

The Meaning of Everything

see also

Defining the World : The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary