July 1999 newsletter

Antedatings and the OED

This issue of the Oxford English Dictionary Newsletter sees a new look and an extended format, reflecting the new and exciting stage into which the project has moved. The OED editorial groups have recently been reorganized to emphasize a more integrated approach to the text, in preparation for the publication of the OED on the World Wide Web.

John Simpson describes some of the developments in the move to put the OED online. Also, in this issue, Alan Hughes neatly demonstrates, with a description of how the word decorporation came to be included in the OED, that our practice of never throwing away a slip or letter from the files eventually pays off; and Adriana Orr, one of our retired American library researchers, narrates the fascinating story of her pursuit of the history and etymology of nachos across several States.

All this, plus a sad tale from our Archives of a life blighted by an OED quotation!