Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 4 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
words regrettably has been dropped.
In pasting up the new , “Compact Unabridged,” the editors did their work with manicure scissors. For example, the five-line entry for “dis” appears in the center column on page 560. The problem was to squeeze it in with minimal typesetting. Nothing to it. The editors cut one line from the definition of “dirty war” and culled four line from “disability.” Carry on!
To qualify for admission to the pearly gates of lexicography, Sol Steinmetz of Random House requires a minimum of 10 citations from five reputable sources over a period of one year. That identifies the word as a candidate for inclusion. After a second year, if the citations continue at an accelerating pace, the word is welcomed to the English language.
Among the candidates admitted in 1996:
Bloviate, to speak pompously; car bomb, chump change, drive-by, drop dead, fedex, home page, lap dance, Megan’s Law, mouse pad, netiquette, red card, sidebar, thigh-high and softball (in the sense of a softball question).
Coinages from the computer world are coming forth with bewildering speed. The revised Random House College Dictionary lists cybernation, cybernetics, cyberpunk, cybersex and cyberspace. The new .“Compact Unabridged” adds “cyberphobia,” an “abnormal” fear of working with computers.
That strikes me as a value judgment — the kind of judgment that descriptive lexicographers are not supposed to make. How is an “abnormal” fear of computers to be distinguished from a normal fear of computers? I .know a fellow who is terrified of getting trapped in Windows and never get
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