XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage   
   From: benlizro@ihug.co.nz   
      
   On 29/08/2025 10:22 a.m., J. P. Gilliver wrote:   
   > On 2025/8/28 20:5:45, Sam Plusnet wrote:   
   >   
   > []   
   >   
   >>    
   >>   
   >> "a lexicographer I know"   
   >>   
   >> Do you get a family discount on access to the OED?   
   >   
   > (-:   
   >   
   > He's constantly reminding me that we _all_ have access, at least if we   
   > have a library card (and this access can be used from home - just go via   
   > your [probably county] library site, not direct to the OED site).>   
   >> P.S. The thread prompted a discussion about meaning of the word - as it   
   >> was used in a newspaper article published in 1825, so I doubt if any of   
   >> the recent work on the OED would apply.   
   >>   
   > That was one of the reasons I forwarded it [and selections from this   
   > discussion] to (OK, my brother); I thought they might not have that   
   > particular example. His reply did not clarify whether they did. It might   
   > not get into the dictionary itself for one of several reasons, such as   
   > it isn't all that clear from it what the intended meaning _is_, or they   
   > may have earlier(and/or better) citations illustrating that particular   
   > meaning, and so on; they may have (or may have now put) it in their   
   > database - not all such "cardings" get put into the dictionary itself:   
   > for each shade of meaning, only a representative few are, to show things   
   > like first use, and evidence of continued use over the   
   > years/decades/centuries. They have a lot more citations (originally, and   
   > still for those who wish to submit them in that form, on - I think about   
   > 4 by 6 inch - cards) than are actually used in the dictionary.   
   >   
      
   You may be able to help me. My relationship with OED goes back to the   
   years when it was all done by paper and post. (I believe my first   
   communication was to point out a spurious citation for "mako (species of   
   shark)".) During the 1990s - early 2000s I fairly regularly sent lists   
   of notes from my readings of mainly 18th- and 19th-century books about   
   the Pacific, which sometimes filled a gap in documentation or clarified   
   a meaning. (As a side project I explored the mysterious origins of the   
   term "missionary position", and somewhere I have a letter from one of   
   the editors declaring that my solution -- Kinsey misquoting Malinowski   
   -- is the correct one.)   
      
   Nowadays I access OED Online via the library of the university where I   
   used to teach. There is an online submission form for people who want to   
   contribute, but it is set up for one word at a time. My problem is that   
   I have one last list which, I'm pretty sure, I never got around to   
   submitting. It's maybe 30 items (from one source), with context and my   
   notes about possible relevance to OED. A small Word document. It would   
   put my mind at rest if I could send it to them, even if it does no more   
   than disappear into the great database. Can you suggest a suitable address?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)