Oxford English Dictionary

Feb. 1, 1884: First part of Oxford English Dictionary released

OED was born
At least the first installment
Called a fascicle

“Fascicle” — oh joy
600,000 words, they
Had to pick that one

It took 40 years
To finish that pig, which grew
To 12 … fascicles

A definition:
Fascicle — what you get when
You freeze your fas off

Second edition
Grew to 20 full volumes
Took 61 years

The third edition?
Complete through “Ryvita,” up
To its “S” in words

It’s also online
Good thing it’s just text or we’d
Be out of bandwidth

Happy birthday, book
With 600,000 words
Guess that says it all

Also see haiku from Aug. 22, when the latest OED update was released.

And from Oct. 6, haiku on British-isms, to mark U.K. Poetry Day.

And check out the latest newsletter for ABC Books in Springfield.

From Aug. 22, 2011, when the Oxford English Dictionary folks released an update.

People make up words
When old ones no longer do.
Oxford keeps a list

Wonder when the word
“Dictionary” first appeared?
You could look it up

Oxford started this
A century ago when
“Aeroplane” took wing

Today’s updates seem
Paltry in comparison:
“Woot,” “Mankini,” Ugh!

“Domestic goddess”
LOL, I like that one
And “sub-prime” is choice

“Cougar” (new meaning),
“Carbon footprint,” “Gastric band,”
“Slow food” have their place

Technology spawns
Some good ones: “Cyberbully,”
“Sexting,” “OMG”

Now if they’d just ditch
“Lifestyle” I’d be quite happy.
Fuzzy, mixed meaning

Yes, some made-up words
Still put me among WACOS:
“What A Crock Of … Stuff”

But I guess language
Can advance even if it’s
Sounding the retweet

Greg's Hack-u