Words Worth Saving

Posted on March 7, 2006

Ian Brookes is the editor of the Chambers Dictionary, which is published in Scotland by Chambers Harrap Publishers. Reuters reports that Brookes is trying to hang on to words like zoozoo, incompossible and jobernowl.

Brookes is not an environmentalist partial to the wood pigeon, but instead editor of the Chambers Dictionary, and is seeking to keep words from disappearing in the publisher's next edition which is slated for release in August.

"We've resisted the temptation for tossing words out," he said Monday at the London Book Fair.

Also on the save list are jobernowl (blockhead), logodaedalus (someone skilled in the manipulative use of words), incompossible (incapable of co-existing) and supernaculum (to the last drop), the kinds of words typically omitted by one-volume dictionaries once they fall out of usage.

The article also says the Chambers Dictionary is known for some of its clever definitions. The Chambers Dictionary's definition for éclaire is "a cake long in shape but short in duration." Wikipedia lists some more definitions and word favorites from the Chambers Dictionary.

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