Reading the OED

June 1, 2008
This chronicle reads half like the journey of a madman and half like a word-of-the-day calendar. In it, Shea (coauthor, "Depraved English; Insulting English") wittily describes his headache-inducing descent into the 21,730 pages of the "Oxford English Dictionary" ("OED"), which he spent a full year reading. Shea sees a dictionary as a work of literature whose words are all alphabetized, and here, he offers readers a rare glimpse into the most obscure corners of the English language, from oddities such as "cellarhood" (to be a cellar) to the curious "quisquilious" (garbagelike). Many of these words are modern yet underused gems, but some are so obscure that the "OED" does not even include a corresponding pronunciation key owing to the word's lack of circulation in recent history. Regular use of these bizarre, sometimes long-forgotten words, writes Shea, will neither inspire advanced social status nor wisdom. Recommended for public and academic libraries.David L. Reynolds, Cleveland P.L.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
Sheasengougement (irrational fondness) for dictionaries led him to spend a year reading through all 20 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary, and he describes this account as the thinking mans Cliff Notes to the greatest dictionary in the world. For each letter of the alphabet he provides a handful of his favorite words and his own humorous glosses, along withmusings onthe history of the OED, dictionaries in general, and hisreading life. (He does most of his OED reading at the Hunter College Library and finds himself turning into one of those Library People as the year goes by.)He shares a number of words that, though they have fallen out of the common vocabulary, could be put to excellent use today: empleomania: a manic compulsion to hold public office; zabernism: a misuse of military authority.The book will happify (make happy) word and dictionary lovers, who will be able toread it in an hour or two, much less time than it takes to read the OED.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)