The word detective : searching for the meaning of it all at the Oxford English Dictionary : a memoir / John Simpson.

Title:

Searching for the meaning of it all at the Oxford English Dictionary : a memoir

Author:

Simpson, J. A., 1953-

ISBN:

9780465060696

Publication Info:

New York, NY :

Description:

xvi, 364 pages ; 24 cm

General Note:

Includes index.

Personal Subject:

Simpson, J. A., 1953--Biography.

Title Subject:

Oxford English dictionary.

Subject(s):

Lexicographers -- Great Britain -- Biography.

English language -- Lexicography.

Holds: Copies (not including on-order items):

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Shelf Location	Status	Item Holds
Searching... East Library	Book	423.092 SIMP SIMP	Biography	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Can you drink a glass of balderdash? What do you call the part of a dog's back it can't scratch? And if, serendipitously, you find yourself in Serendip, then where exactly are you?

The answers to all of these questions -- and a great many more -- can be found in the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary , the definitive record of the English language. And there is no better guide to the dictionary's many wonderments than the former chief editor of the OED , John Simpson. Simpson spent almost four decades of his life immersed in the intricacies of our language, and guides us through its history with charmingly laconic wit. In The Word Detective , an intensely personal memoir and a joyful celebration of English, he weaves a story of how words come into being (and sometimes disappear), how culture shapes the language we use, and how technology has transformed not only the way we speak and write but also how words are made.

Throughout, he enlivens his narrative with lively excavations and investigations of individual words -- from deadline to online and back to 101 (yes, it's a word) -- all the while reminding us that the seemingly mundane words (can you name the four different meanings of ma ?) are often the most interesting ones. But Simpson also reminds us of the limitations of language: spending his days in the OED 's house of words, his family at home is forced to confront the challenges of wordlessness.

A brilliant and deeply humane expedition through the world of words, The Word Detective will delight and inspire any lover of language.

Author Notes

John Simpson is the former chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, where he helped digitize the dictionary. He lives in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Language lives and breathes, and nowhere is it examined so microscopically as at the offices of the Oxford English Dictionary. Former editor-in-chief Simpson peered through that microscope for more than 30 years, beginning in 1976, during the OED's most dynamic period of growth. This is just the sort of memoir you'd imagine from the hands of someone who's spent his life chasing down the peculiar history of words and writing clear and careful definitions of them and their origins: precise and thorough. A meticulous storyteller, Simpson chronicles his years at the OED from his very first assignment-reading a translation of Christian Metz's Film Language searching for words used for the first time in English (he discovers prefilmic and screening room)-to his appointment as coeditor of the OED and his promotion to chief editor. Simpson gracefully weaves into his memoir little definitions of words, providing examples of the work of a lexicographer. For instance, the phrase hue and cry, he observes, likely arose from the French hu e cri, which was the "outcry from the aggrieved party calling for the pursuit of a felon," though by the 17th century in English the word hue had faded from use and become a "fossil." At the turn of the 21st century, Simpson oversees the publication of the online edition of the OED in order to make it easier to use and to "open up access to a wider readership." Simpson's vibrant and inspiring memoir gives us a glimpse into life as detective in the realm of words. Agent: David Kuhn & Becky Sweren, Kuhn Projects. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* The Oxford English Dictionary is one of our most revered reference works, consulted by readers for precise definitions and accurate entomology. It hardly seems it could be produced by mere mortals. But it is, and former chief editor Simpson makes that point in recounting his 37 years with the OED, a time when the Victorian-era dictionary transformed into a modern online publication. Starting in 1976 as a reader searching through texts for words, he learned every step of producing the dictionary. The process even involved work by many volunteers collecting illustrative sentences to be woven together by scholars into word histories. As an editor, he recruited people from many professions in the OED's word search. Simpson's memoir features entertaining, culturally revealing stories of many curious words, phrases, and roots, including epicentre, marriage, queen, crowd-sourcing, hue-and-cry, and -ology. He also tells about his marriage and the challenges of raising a nonverbal daughter. Although scholars and librarians will be particularly interested in the OED history, all readers can enjoy Simpson's sincere and lively memoir.--Roche, Rick Copyright 2016 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Historically, words can mean many different things, but it takes careful research to document how that meaning has changed. Simpson, former chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), draws on his 37-year career to illustrate the OED's evolution and continued relevance as a source for understanding the English language. Beginning with his job interview, Simpson relates his experience, bringing readers into the basement archives of the OED, with its daily tea rituals, through the years that saw the move to computerization. The author shares his knowledge of lexicography and illustrates its complexity by interspersing words in bold throughout that are explored in asides. His discussion of the word "marriage" shows how social change affects its definition over time. Boldly, Simpson claims that people who love words are "the last people we need working on dictionaries" and admits to only a "modicum of enthusiasm" for the material. Stories about the author's family add an appealing personal framework. VERDICT This witty exploration of culture and language will be welcomed by users of the OED and anyone interested in the study of language. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," p. 26.]-Judy Solberg, Sacramento, CA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Introduction: The Background to the Case	p. ix
1 Serendipity, Perhaps	p. 1
2 Lexicography 101	p. 23
3 Marshallers of Words	p. 39
4 The Longest Way Round	p. 65
5 Uneasy Skanking	p. 97
6 Shark-Infested Waters	p. 129
7 OED Redux	p. 147
8 The Tunnel and the Vision	p. 179
9 Gxddbov Xxkxzt Pg Ifmk	p. 209
10 At the Top of the Crazy Tree	p. 239
11 Shenanigans Online	p. 263
12 Flavour of the Month	p. 293
13 Becoming the Past	p. 329
Acknowledgements	p. 343
Further Reading	p. 343
Index	p. 347

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