Project news

HDAS

With the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Oxford University Press is taking over publication of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, edited by Dr Jonathan Lighter. HDAS is a multi-volume dictionary in progress covering the entire history of slang in America. Random House had published the first two volumes, A-G and H-O, but was unable to continue the project. Jesse Sheidlower, Principal Editor of the OED's North American Editorial Office, was the Project Editor of HDAS at Random House and will have a consulting role with the dictionary at OUP. The resources this dictionary provides for this most interesting part of the English vocabulary will be a great benefit for the OED, one which we hope to explore in future issues of OED News.

In Memoriam

Earlier this year we heard the sad news of the death of Edith Bonner. Edith joined the OED to work on the Supplement in 1976, and after the publication of its final volume joined the New Words team as an editor on OED Additions. With her background in Latin and Greek and her enormous erudition in classical literature, Edith was an invaluable asset to the OED. She brought her inimitable mixture of shrewd wisdom and sharp humour to the New Words team, on which she worked until her retirement in 1991. Even after her retirement her distinctive handwriting still graced the desks of OED editors in the form of quotations sent in for the Historical Reading Programme and as voluntary contributions; she continued to send material until within a few weeks of her death. Her slips remain in the OED files as a permanent reminder of her commitment to the project for more than 25 years.