Reference BackTalk: My 48 Hours in Oxford

This is the story of how a jet-lagged LJ editor crashed a publisher's party overseas in October 2008 and came away both inspired and humbled. The publisher was Oxford University Press (OUP), and the celebration was in honor of the 80th birthday of the legendary Oxford English Dictionary (OED). OUP's staff hosted a series of events at their UK digs, including meetings with the media from both sides of the pond and an open-to-the-public discussion about the OED, which has now morphed into a thriving online product.

As I learned on the plane to London from the materials supplied by the OUP folks, the OED is considered one of the greatest achievements in the history of English letters. It has been linked to many famous names, including J.R.R. Tolkien, who once said that he learned more in the two years he worked on the OED than in any other period of his life. Excited by what I had read, I was ready for action.

The plane landed at Heathrow early Monday morning. I took a cab to Oxford, since the shuttle wouldn't get me to the morning event on time and, truth be told, I was exhausted. The cab driver was happy to take me all the way to Oxford, no doubt because he would get a sizable fare. As it turned out, however, he made out much better than he had probably originally anticipated. During our hour-long ride that felt like three hours, he was unable to find the Old Parsonage Hotel—where I was to meet an Oxford representative—so he circled downtown Oxford with the meter running. This will forever be remembered as the most expensive and adventurous cab ride of my life.

A few incidents later (including my tipping the hotel porter with U.S. dollars), I was taken to OUP's offices nearby, where visiting journalists were enjoying a tour of the OUP museum. The tour's slow pace suited me, as I was still catching my breath and rummaging through my purse for something to write on.

Next, Oxford Reference publisher Casper Grathwohl gave an overview of the OUP publishing program and discussed what lies ahead. Senior publishing manager Judy Pearsall introduced the Corpus of the OED, a massive database used to collect data for internal use by editors. According to the notes on the back of my airline e-ticket, the Corpus comprises two billion words from some 30,000 sources going back to 2000.

Two leisure events followed: lunch at the famous Eagle and Child pub and a walking tour of Oxford. "I hope I don't fall asleep," I said to an SLJ editor in the hotel lobby later that day, without realizing that the guide we were all waiting for sat next to us. I quickly explained to the affable Englishman that I was referring to my jet lag and not to his ability to entertain us. As it turned out, the tour was lovely and exactly what I needed: some fresh air, beautiful scenery, and eloquent renditions of Oxford life. I went back to the hotel revitalized, organized my notes, ordered a crème brûlée, and fell asleep before the sun came down.

Tuesday kicked off with my getting lost on the way to the OUP building, which wasn't where I thought I had left it the day before. This was followed by insightful presentations by editorial director Robert Faber, chief editor John Simpson, and others about the internal process. We learned that 75 lexicographers and hundreds of freelancers from around the world contribute to the OED; that their jobs go beyond defining each word, entailing investigations of the word's origin and how it has evolved over time; and that there are lots of avenues from which new words are drawn, including reading programs and a wide range of publications.

I also learned that one could indeed grapple with language in such detail without going mad (I admit that this had crossed my mind) when I met with the lexicographers that afternoon and saw them at work. Divided into three groups—New Words, Revision, and Etymology—they sat quietly at their desks facing one another, with screens in front of them overflowing with data only they could decipher. I marveled at what they told me: that some entries (e.g., "put" and "social") take months to complete, that their archive of newspapers goes back two centuries, and that they are often assisted by the university librarians in their research.

The day was far from over at that point, but I had to say good-bye and catch a flight to New York. On the shuttle back to Heathrow, I kept busy responding to emails from my LJ superiors about the articles I had worked on before leaving for the UK. If the OED's editors can spend months honing a single entry, I thought, I can handle a few queries on my own writing process.

[Visit LJ online for more coverage of this event, including interviews woth Oxford publisher Casper Grathwohl, chief editor John Simpson,  and a photo gallery.]