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OED 80th Anniversary

Tue., Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.


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Published: Nov 11, 2008

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"I'll take a martini," says lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower when asked about what sweets we should bring to the Oxford English Dictionary's 80th anniversary bash. During the decade between writing The F-Word (Faber and Faber, 1999) and due-in-December The It Word (William Morrow), Sheidlower became the OED's North American editor at large, with a focus on slang and new usages. To join him on stage at the Free Library's celebration, he's invited OED outsiders Barbara Wallraff and Ammon Shea: When she isn't copy editing the U.S. Constitution and appearing on NPR's All Things Considered, Wallraff is a senior editor and columnist for The Atlantic; Shea spent a year with the 137-plus-pound volume and wrote Reading the OED about the experience.

Meanwhile Sheidlower talks straight about having the top job at one of educational lit's finest workplaces: "I think the OED is one of the greatest scholarly projects of all time, and I'm delighted that I get to participate in it."

Tue., Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.