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LONDON - Anyone go dogging before 1993, have a domestic prior to 1963 or go the loo before 1940? Because the Oxford English Dictionary wants to know.
In a bid to extend its understanding of the roots of some popular words and phrases in Britain's vocabulary, the dictionary is seeking public help. OED's editors have come up with 40 usages whose origins are either unknown or uncertain. In a new series of the BBC2 show Balderdash & Piffle, to be broadcast this spring, presenter Victoria Coren will call on the public to suggest new theories for possible inclusion in future editions.
Puzzles include who exactly Gordon Bennett was and why he became a mild expletive and whether Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset was really the birthplace of the "marital aid". People will be asked to trawl unpublished papers, old magazines and even dated postcards to find earlier appearances of words including "wally", "wassock" and "tosser" than those examples already cited in the dictionary. Last year, viewers provided information which is being used to update listings for phrases including "ploughman's lunch", "the full monty" and the "99" icecream.
John Simpson, chief editor of the OED at Oxford University Press, said: "Word hunters made some remarkable discoveries in the last series. They found words tucked away in football fanzines, LPs, school newspapers - just the sort of sources we can't easily get our hands on. "It's great that the long-established democratic traditions of the dictionary are continuing. Our first public appeal went out in 1859. We've selected 40 words that are puzzling the OED's editors for the new word hunt and we're hoping for some more great results."
- INDEPENDENT
