They felt that the current dictionaries were not comprehensive or accurate enough. The OED sprang as an idea in 1857 from several members of the Philological Society in London. In 1928, when the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was finally completed after a little over seventy years, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin began his toast with the remark that if he were lost on a deserted island, he would choose the OED for company because, “Our history, our novels, our poems, our plays - they are all in this one book.” I fully agree. I guess there is some personal fascination with the dictionary, but who doesn’t appreciate a well-chosen word, a lovely turn of phrase, or the etymology of an interesting term? Although untrue, I’ll admit I have skimmed a page or two upon occasion I do readily look up the meaning of unfamiliar words, and I did ask, and receive, a copy of the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (with reading glass) when graduating with my MA. Once or twice during my academic years I was accused of reading the dictionary.
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