Oh, the feaking of the beak!

When, a couple of Christmases back, Dave gave me my very own copy of the OED – the Oxford English Dictionary, considered by lexicographers to be the last word in words – I thought I’d curl up with it and just browse to my heart’s content.

It didn’t happen. For one thing, the OED is big, and hard to curl up with. The original edition was on paper, of course, and required 20 volumes. Twenty! Where would you place them to have them at the ready as you write?

So a compromise was struck and the OED Additions Series was published, in three volumes. I suspect this is pretty much a holding tank for additional words until the next large set is updated.

In the UK, a “Compact OED” is offered. My OED is the “Shorter OED,” a two-volume set, fifth edition. I don’t know which is actually shorter, the compact or the shorter.

Today you will not be surprised to know that the OED comes in CD-ROM and is also accessible on line. I don’t know how much those cost, but the print volumes are really pricey.

The tricky thing about the OED, of course, is that it is English indeed, and spells some words English style. “Colour” is unapologetically ahead of “color,” which is tossed in as “Also, color, ME” indicating that it made its appearance in the Middle English period.

There are more than 600,000 entries in the OED, with about 1,000 new words added each year. Most, in our times, have technological roots. Recent additions include DVD, hacktivsm, dust bunny, strip mall, and biological clock.

Did you ever wonder why dictionaries always get larger? Why don’t editors remove really, really unused old words when they add new ones?

I do have an ear for words and usage, and I’m going to stick it out here and make some predictions. Words ebb in and out of our speech and writing, and now and then a word begins to make itself noticed. It may have perfectly good etymology, but it has lurked in some leather-bound shadow until someone uses it, someone else admires it, probably subconsciously, and then it gets woven into conversation and eventually into documents.

The word “issues” has been such a word, and it irritates me to no end. “I have sleep issues,” says an insomniac. Might “Oh, dear, what could his issues be?” replace “What can the matter be?”

You may be surprised that I mention “mentor.” A perfectly splendid word, long in common use as a noun meaning one who teaches or sets an example for another, especially in an educational or professional setting. (I made up that definition, but it’s pretty close. I closed my OED and don’t want to page through all that fine print again.)

Don’t get me wrong: “Mentor” is a perfectly excellent word, and mentors everywhere do a truly blessed service. But it’s “mentor” as a verb that worries me. It’s legit, although I don’t think it was intended to be used as a transitive verb. “I can’t go. I’m mentoring Jeannette this afternoon.”

“Mentee” did not make it.

Have you noticed that the word “pop” has new prominence? Besides all the meanings you expect it to have, this one is from the fashion world, especially in home décor.

“Paint the fireplace gold,, and in front of that brown wall, it will really pop,” says the decorator. I don’t find “pop” in this context in the OED.

(Incidentally, one of the Briticisms included in the “pop” list is “ice-lolly.” Cute, huh?)

I got headed down Lexicography Lane when my CBS News link on my home page lit up a week or so back. What do you suppose is the most commonly used noun in English? Think, now. Saying it’s a noun eliminates most of the clutter of pronouns, prepositions, articles, consonants and the like.

According to the “Concise Oxford Dictionary,” the most often used noun in our language is “time.”

Here, I’ll give you the top 25, but I’ll spare the quotation marks.

Time, person, year, way, day, thing, man, world, life, hand, part, child, eye, woman, place, work, week, case, point, government, company, number, group, problem, and fact. Check the site: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/22/national/main1740994.shtml

I’ve saved the best for last. I hereby challenge my son-in-law, who too often knows those rare words I trip over. Brian, do you know what “feaking” is? It’s such a delightfully spicy word, but I assure you it is as benign as a verb can be.

Give up?

From the German “feagen” meaning cleanse or sweep, it’s what birds do, cleaning their bills on a branch after eating. It first appeared in English about 1575, and is associated by this quotation from a 1686 explanation of proper falconry: “When the hawk hath Fed, say she Feaketh her Beak and not wipeth it.”