Time to say goodbye to a good old friend.
"sigh"
Posted on 08/29/2010 5:09:06 PM PDT by Stoat
It was first published 126 years ago and is respected the world over.
But the Oxford English Dictionary will never appear in print again, its owners have announced.
Instead, the 80 lexicographers who have been working on the third edition for the past 21 years have been told the fruits of their labour will exist solely online.
The OED has been available on the internet for the past ten years and receives two million hits a month from subscribers who pay £205 a year, plus VAT, to access it.
Oxford University Press says the dominance of the internet means the latest update to the definitive record of the English language - currently 28 per cent complete - will never be published in print.
'The print dictionary market is just disappearing - it is falling away by tens of per cent a year,' said Nigel Portwood, 44, chief executive of OUP.
'Our primary purpose - and this takes a bit of adjusting to - is not profit, it is the dissemination of knowledge,' he said.
'Print is still pretty important round here but, wherever possible, if there is an opportunity, we are moving out of it.'
The printed dictionary has a shelf life of another 30 years, he predicts.
The third edition is only expected to be completed by 2037. The OUP has already stopped producing illustrated reference books because of the growing popularity of the Wikipedia website.
R
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Oxford English Dictionary 'will not be printed again' - Telegraph
(edit)
“The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of per cent a year,” Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of OUP, told the Sunday Times. Asked if he thought the third edition would be printed, he said: “I don’t think so.”
(edit) Mr Portwood said printed dictionaries had a shelf life of about another 30 years, with the pace of change increased by the popularity of e-books and devices such as the Apple iPad and Amazon’s Kindle. Simon Winchester, author of ‘The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary’, said the switch towards online formats was “prescient”. He said: “Until six months ago I was clinging to the idea that printed books would likely last for ever. Since the arrival of the iPad I am now wholly convinced otherwise. “The printed book is about to vanish at extraordinary speed. I have two complete OEDs, but never consult them – I use the online OED five or six times daily. The same with many of my reference books – and soon with most. “Books are about to vanish; reading is about to expand as a pastime; these are inescapable realities.”
(edit)
Say it ain’t so!!!!!!
The rest of paper publications will eventually follow, outside of niche items.
The rest of paper publications will eventually follow, outside of niche items.
ping
Talk about faith in th electronic medium.
Glad I have my compact edition...and the magnifying glass!!
Time to say goodbye to a good old friend.
"sigh"
I remember her telling me, half the words are spelled wrong.
When I was a kid, my Granddaddy had an Encyclopedia Britannica. My Father had a cheap off brand one called the New Standard Encyclopedia. It wasn’t that bad but no where near Britannica. I always wanted one but they were just too expensive.
Recently I bought two complete ones dating from the 90’s and another one from the 60’s for less than $30. People basically just wanting to get rid of them. I still find it easier looking things up in them than the internet.
Great book about the history of the writing of the Oxford Dictionary. The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester.
Then younger generations will never know the absolute pleasure of spending an hour or two browsing through a bookstore or library and curling up on a comfy sofa or chair with a good printed book. I feel so very sorry for them.
Are you the manager of the FR Tech Ping List? I’m thinking that the Tech Ping list members might be interested in this thread :-)
Books are like gasses, they expand to fill the available space.
The younger generation can take off on a motorcycle with every book they own along to choose from.
Every book they collect, they can increase the font size and read without special glasses when they get to be in their 50s.
From my point of view, they get the better end of the deal.
This means we can look forward to a generation which thinks Octopi is plural for Octopus.
If you go to the next local book sale, likely you can find a set of encyclopedia that can be had for free.
http://www.booksalefinder.com/
Remember when “gay” meant being happy?
Family was a dad, mom & kids.
Women were carrying a baby, now it's a fetus.
Illegal immigrant is now undocumented citizen.
....
He who controls the language, controls the debate.
Saul Alinski.
That is why they want to discontinue the printing. They want to hide the evidence of the real meaning of words .
What was that movie where books were banned or words in papers were changed? Should have been named after the liberals.
I did get a set of “World Book” for free. I asked a clerk at a local Salvation Army type store how much they were and he said I could just have them.
World Book is really a pretty good encyclopedia.
I have a Nephew who is a Jag Colonel and possibly the smartest person I have ever known. He told me he plans on getting a set of used Britannica before long as he also likes the book format.
I doubt I will ever run across a 1913 copy but even the 1960’s era one is surprisingly non PC.
My sister got me started going to these used book sales. Four of us are going to the big Centenary Book Sale in a couple of weeks.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100828/NEWS01/8280322/Centenary-College-s-giant-book-sale-to-return-for-24th-year
Centenary College’s giant book sale to return for 24th year
Books were banned in Fahrenheit 451
And for the work that featured words that would be changed in order to 'adjust' history, you 'may' be thinking of George Orwell's 1984
My parents bought a New Standard for me in about 1960; it was published in 1945. Used it a few times. We continued purchasing the annual updates for about 40 years.
In 1966 my mom started buying the Funk and Wagnals in the grocery store. One volume a week. Took the set to recyling a few weeks ago. Still subscribe to the annual update (starting in 1962)
Yep. Cram more words into fewer pages then charge more. Just trying to increase profit.
Fortunately, most of the books I buy are 19th century through the first half of the 20th century. The only contemporary books I buy are hardcover current events and the novels of those writers I like. The hard covers are usually printed fairly well.
I use Webster´s New World Dictionary 1957 almost exclusively.
OUP throws in the towel, in favor of WIKIPEDIA!?!
This is like discontinuing Grey's Anatomy in favor of The Visible Man/Woman models. /sarc> ...maybe.
I guess this means I can’t sell my vintage ~1970 World Books? Dang, and it’s a complete set!
One could always print it out.
Very sad but understandable. I have 2 of the short versions, which I have not consulted more than 5 times in the last 10 years. Same with my excellent encyclopedia set. It’s all there on the Internet now.
I read a book last year about the publication of the first edition of the OED. Fascinating.
Until the battery dies, while sitting in the outhouse at deer camp.
The local library had a book sale in which they were clearly just trying to get rid of a bunch. You could fill a large shopping bag full for a dollar.
I got a couple of bags full. It took quite a bit of looking but I got some surprisingly good ones including one which was full of 11X14 lithographs of famous paintings. They were all suitable for framing.
I read that book last winter.
I once saw an episode of Star Trek Next Generation where Captain Picard enjoyed reading a printed book while drinking a cup of tea. I repeat: Technology will never be able to replace that joy.
My battery lasts three weeks. Some new units that will be on the market by Christmas have solar rechargers. They will never need to be plugged in.
When I was around 12 the local Piggly Wiggly started selling Funk and Wagnals. I bought the first volume for a quarter. That is the only one I got. I didn’t know they weren’t all a quarter.
I'm about as techie as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Bookstores and libraries evoke that kid-on-Christmas-morning feeling in me.
For me, thinning out my library is like going to an all night dentist.
I agree....the tactile pleasure of holding a 'real' book in your hands will be eventually lost and replaced by a glowing screen on a device where lending or reselling your books is either impossible or highly problematic. Moving entirely to a proprietary e-book format allows copyright holders to rigidly regulate their properties and maximize their profits. Instead of being able to simply hand a friend your copy of a book as a loan, you'll now have to either hand the friend your electronic reading device, which also contains your entire book collection, or tell your friend to go buy his own electronic copy. And when you're through with a book, your options for selling it will be either impossible or strictly regulated.
Has anyone else read/listened to “The Professor and the Madman”?
An enemy, in 10 years or so, explodes a series of ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP) Nukes over us and Europe. I tend to doubt the absolute total wipe-out scenarios, BUT it wouldn't be pretty.
Just sayin ...
Either that of a burst from the sun directly to earth - as has happened before, knocking out what electrical technology we had at the time - like telegraph transformers - could be tantamount to the burning of the Constantinople Library.
That set civilization - sciences, medicine, etc., - back hundreds of years.
I tell my kids and grandkids: PRINT OUT YOUR BEST PHOTOS and get them safely into albums. Print out email letters you don't want to lose forever and, also, WRITE REAL LETTERS.
I have photos that are are over 100 years old of family.
I have bundles of letters from my dear late grandparents - from the 30’s-40’s, and from my late parents. They are are wealth of family history. (Indeed, I have a book written by one of my 7th great great grandfathers in the 1600’s. (Gov. Wm. Bradford of the Mayflower. He wrote a journal for the family about the 20 years of struggle before, during and after the crossing to Plymouth. It was hunted down and printed in the late 1800’s. I have that edition as well as the one that has been continually reprinted for the past 60 years. Had that not been first in his pen on paper and then printed, it would have long been lost, along with all the history. Nearly everything we know about the Pilgrims is from this original family journal.)
In the last 10 years, we have gone from VCR’s to floppys to CD’s to DVD’s and those are already changing in size. It won't be long before whatever is on them will be trapped - as machines for playing them will change and become obsolete.
The written letter, the printed photo and the printed book will not become obsolete by ‘disappearing.’
Good grief, I'm glad I have an extensive collection of books...but now I'm thinking I need to start collecting libraries for my kids and grandkids.
Insanity.
I had read a review of that one once...and sincerely intended to get around to looking for it when it came out in paper back or in a used edition.
But like so many things, newer shinier books caught my eye.
How was it?
This has concerned me quite a bit for a long time, what with society's increasing reliance on electronic data storage.
I work in healthcare, and the idea of everybody in a city losing their entire medical history, and for patients in a hospital losing their ongoing care histories as well as x-rays is not a scenario that I look forward to. A few EMP detonations will bring us all down to a Medieval level pretty darned fast
Now people will have to look it up in their Funk & Wagnalls...
It’s a fascinating and unexpected story well told.
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