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Empire of Words: The Reign of the O.E.D.

Empire of Words: The Reign of the O.E.D.

by JohnWillinsky (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 1994

    $4.44
Synopsis

Challenging the authority of the Oxford English Dictionary , this study reveals many of the dictionary's inherent prejudices and questions the assumptions behind its continuous revision. It describes how judgemental the task of editing a major dictionary can be.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 268
 Edition: 1st edn
 Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 02 Nov 1994
ISBN 10: 0691037191
ISBN 13: 9780691037196

Media Reviews
The heart of the [OED] is its citations--the examples it gives of the words it is defining; for, as in any good dictionary, it is these that ultimately determine the definitions. . . . But, says Professor John Willinsky in Empire of Words, the citations in the . . . OED . . . were far too narrowly chosen. . . . Some would say there was not much wrong with that. Yes, there is, says Willinsky. It marks the OED as elitist, masculine in its emphasis, chauvinistic, imperialist even, and in a general way insulting to minority groups.---Nicholas Bagnall, The Sunday Telegraph
John Willinsky . . . shows [that] The Dictionary is deeply and unavoidably flawed. Its architecture remains distinctly Victorian, and anyone using The Dictionary as a tool, or even a temple, needs to know the colour and slant of the windows they're looking through. . . . The OED is a brilliant, majestic, endlessly fascinating homage to a seriously wordy language. Empire of Words regularly applauds that achievement, while carefully posting much-needed warning signs all over it. . . . Willinsky is scholarly without ever being dry, writing with wit, elegance and unfailing insight. You couldn't ask for a better, more genial guide.---Randy Harris, Globe and Mail
[This] provocative new book dares question the OED; it raises some points that even the most devoted user of the great dictionary might want to consider.---Olin Chism, Dallas Morning News
[In] Empire of Words: The Reign of the OED [John Willinsky] takes an affectionate but candid look at the great book's shortcomings. . . . He approaches his study of the OED through a close examination of its principal sources of authority for its definitions. . . . It's time, he believes, to make room in the OED for the English of wider global use.---Max Wyman, Vancouver Sun
What [John Willinsky] found--after years of old-fashioned study bolstered by a sophisticated computer analysis of the entire OED text--is fascinating and disconcerting. . . . [While he] never undermines or obscures the amazing enterprise that is the OED . . . [he] documents the human foibles undergirding the selection of [its] famous illustrative quotations.---Steve Weinberg, Star
Willinsky has written an impressive socio-political history of the Oxford English Dictionary. . . . A careful, thorough, lively history. --Chris Kramarae, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
John Willinsky . . . offers a study of the Oxford English Dictionary and how it got that way, its often subtle omissions and prejudices, and the absolute vastness of its achievement. . . . Willinsky has made a significant contribution to the appreciation and enjoyment of our language. . . . If you're a word nut, you need it. Even if you're only casually interested in our language, there are scores of tidbits that will intrigue.--Los Angeles Times
Author Bio
John Willinsky is Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of British Columbia. Among his books are The Well-Tempered Tongue: The Politics of Standard English in High School, The Triumph of Literature/The Fate of Literacy, and The New Literacy.