Help rewrite the Oxford English Dictionary

One of the oldest and best known dictionaries of the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary.

The first edition of this dictionary was published in 1756. It took the famous Dr. Samuel Johnson, with the aid of six assistants, ten years to research the history, pronunciation, spelling and definition of the 42,773 English words in that first Oxford English Dictionary or, as it is commonly referred to, the OED.

While there had been some English dictionaries published prior to the Oxford, this was far more comprehensive than any previous publication of this sort. Growing literacy and technological advances, such as improvements to the printing press and new and cheaper methods for producing paper was giving rise to a growing publishing industry.

A spoken language is not concerned with spelling as it is the sound that people understand. Grammar also is not that important as body language goes a long way toward helping the speaker and listener to understand.

However, grammar and spelling become very important when the language is put on paper and the author and reader are no longer face to face and may not even be living in the same era. Hence, the need for a dictionary.

Today, the current edition of the OED has grown to 600,000 words and thousands of people are employed throughout the English speaking world to research the history, spelling and definition of the words used by English speakers.

While the language has rules, they are flexible and evolving as is the vocabulary. Our language is a bottom up, rather than a top down language, with the speakers of the language creating new words and modifying rules as needed for every day communication. Outfits like the OED don't create words or rules, but, rather, observe words and speech patterns in use and codify those words and rules they observe in common use.

A continuing goal of the OED is to provide, not only the spelling and pronunciation of each word in the language but also its history from the time each was first used. To do this, the OED employs people world-wide to do the detective work of tracing down the history of words.

However, the language continues to grow and add new words at a rapid pace and the OED, in partnership with the BBC's (British Broadcasting Corporation) Balderdash & Piffle TV series, is looking for English speaking volunteers to help track down the first use of the words on its Balderdash & Piffle appeal list.

In lieu of pay, you will have the thrill of being a language detective associated with one of the world's prestigious publications and, if you are the first to track down the earliest verifiable use of one the words you will receive a mention on the TV show.

If you don't think that you are qualified to do this or that there is no fun or glamor in the job, think again.

Take, for instance that common English word, nacho. We all know what it means but how did nachos come to be called nachos ? Click here to learn how researcher Adriana P. Orr quickly tracked the origin of nacho to the inventor of the word – and this was in the pre-Internet days of the late 1960s when research was more challenging.

As to qualifications and glamor, click here for short accounts of two young American women who not only succeeded at the job, but found it to be fun despite the fact that they really didn't know what the job was when they applied for it.

Finally, even if you don't have the time or inclination to volunteer, take a moment to check out the OED newsletter archive on their website at I think you will find it an interesting place to browse.