I was just flipping through my M-W 11C and the page header "die on the vine" caught my eye, so I dropped to the bottom right of the page and...it wasn't there. So I figured there was a layout error and turned the page, but it wasn't on the next page either. Missing definition, and you wouldn't know it except that at one point of the book's production, it was the last definition on the page so it ended up on the page header.
Anytime I find a copy editing error in a dictionary I feel two things: surprise that anything made it through what has to be among the most rigorous editing processes anywhere, and awe for dictionary copy editors. I mean, can you imagine? Editing a dictionary? Dude.
I think that was part of what was weird for me in The Professor and the Madman: The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. It had this story that involved murder, insanity, genius, self-mutilation, all this drama, and none of it stood up, for me, against the story of how they put that book together. Just amazing.
Is there such a thing as dictionary appreciation day?
3 comments:
You know, when I read that one on your recommendation, I wanted more of the dictionary's story, too. Like, tell me some of the quotes he sent in that they used and stuff!
Hrm, no dictionary day, but I did find this that I thought you would appreciate. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=International%20Caps%20Lock%20Apreciation%20Day
hrm, let me try again. http://tinyurl.com/54322p
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