The short process is: meet someone who works at the OED evaluating new words for inclusion. The slightly longer process involves plying him or her with drink. The most complete answer is contained in Lyza Danger Gardner’s blog entry How I Got a Word into the Oxford English Dictionary. (And yes, it includes both of the aforementioned steps.) As Erin McKean pointed out in her Ten Things You Should Know About the Dictionary, it helps to have identified a lexical gap first — a place in the language where a word does not exist, but a need is clear. And that’s exactly what Lyza did…though the word she got into the OED was not quite the one she’d planned on. Here’s a snippet:

…I wanted him to consider the word “nugry,” promoted by my friend Tom, who was active on (I believe) alt.puzzles or somesuch similar problem-solving-related newsgroup. The definition of nugry? Essentially: “The third word in the English language ending in ‘-gry’”, existing for the sole purpose of being an answer to a puzzle-riddle I’ve long since forgotten. You can see why I failed in this regard.

Besides, William [the OED editor] was fairly nonchalant (at best) about his occupation. He found it bemusing that I held such reverence for the establishment. “Eh,” he would say, “really we’re all just a bunch of tossers.”

One night we went to London to celebrate William’s birthday. We all went to a pub in Camden Town called, if memory serves, the Ram and Tup (a rather bawdy reference!). Everyone got fair well plastered except myself and Matt. We trundled William into the back of Matt’s car, all spinny-headed and dreamy. I was sitting in the passenger seat.

“Lyza. I have something that is going to make your week.”

“Yeah?”

“Your word is going to be in the next edition.”

“Really?!”

“Except not the one you think.” …

Read the rest to find out which word actually made it into the dictionary, thanks to Lyza’s perseverance.

1. Washington Wasn’t the First American President

Your teachers all said G.W. was the first American president, but George “I Cannot Tell a Lie” Washington would have told you differently. During the American Revolution in 1781, the Continental Congress elected Maryland statesman John Hanson to the post of President of the United States in Congress Assembled. After Washington defeated the British at the Battle of Yorktown, Hanson sent him a congratulatory note. Washington’s reply was addressed to the “President of the United States.” Not until he was elected in 1789 did Washington officially take his own version of the title.

2. John Quincy Adams’ Naked Swimming Fetish

Forget secret tapes and shredded documents. Back in the early 19th century, there was a better way to get a glimpse of an American president truly exposed. All you had to do was show up at the banks of the Potomac River early in the morning during the warmer months between 1825 and 1829 to catch John Quincy Adams skinny-dipping.

3. The Fabulous Life of George Washington

As president, ol’ Georgie pulled in a salary of $25K a year. That’s roughly $1 million in today’s currency. Apparently excited by his newfound purchasing power, Washington started living it up, reportedly buying leopard-skin robes for all his horses and spending seven percent of his income on alcohol.
(more…)

The Dark Knight comes out at midnight tonight, so in honor of the movie, here’s a quiz about knights. It’s become a tradition for entertainers, sports stars and other celebrities to be knighted by the Queen. We’ve compiled 12 names; can you identify the knights and dames?

Note: Even if they have been honored by the Queen, they may not have been knighted. We’re only looking for those higher than a CBE.

Take the quiz.

Questions that have bedeviled legions of circus-goers and carnival connoisseurs: why doesn’t the gunpowder kill the cannonballer before they exit the cannon? Do my eyes deceive me? And how can I break into the fast-growing field of human cannonballing? Patience, my friends. All in good time.

They don’t actually use gunpowder

The “cannons” used by human cannonballers are actually giant catapults, and the smoke and explosions produced are just for show. The first human catapult act was performed in 1877, by a girl who was only 14 years old, using “elastic springs” to turn her into a living projectile. (She later went on to tour with P.T. Barnum.) The technology has changed a bit in recent years but the idea is the same: once a cannonballer clambers into his cannon, he stands on a platform about three-quarters of the way down the barrel. High-pressure compressed air is pumped into the chamber left between the platform and the bottom of the barrel, sending the platform to the top of the barrel — and the cannonballer into the air. (more…)

At the request of reader Molly, today we’ll take a look at Robert Motherwell, the first abstract expressionist to be covered by “Feel Art Again” (unless you count DuanPen). The American painter, writer, and collagist was both the youngest and the most prolific of the original group of abstract expressionists.

1. Robert Motherwell’s paintings may not look very complex, but there is much more to them than what is noticeable upon first glance. With a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford, a year of doctorate philosophy work at Harvard, and art / art history studies at Columbia, Motherwell was an extremely well-educated artist, which is apparent in his works. Titles for paintings, drawings, and prints were inspired by James Joyce works; his Hollow Men series took its title from a T.S. Eliot poem; and his artist’s book A la pintura (To Painting) was a response to Spanish poet Rafael Alberti’s verses celebrating painting.

(more…)

It appears that we’ve focused on mathematics puzzles in the early part of this week, so I’ll give the word-game fans their comeuppance. And I’ll do it with only two letters of the alphabet. Today’s Brain Game:

Here are three possible answers. Please feel free to comment with any additional ones that you may find.

The wonderful response and suggested additions to the post 9 People Who Did It Anyway led me to explore more people who could’ve taken the easy way out due to disabilities, but instead followed their passions.

The Teenage Amputee Explorer

Janek Mela is a double amputee from Gdansk, Poland who became the youngest person to reach the North Pole, and then the South Pole. Born in 1988, Mela was 13 years old when he was electrocuted in a transformer building. His left arm and right leg were so damaged they had to be amputated. In April of 2004, Mela accompanied polar explorer Marek Kamiński on a 70 kilometer walk from Spitsbergen, Norway to the North Pole. On December 31st of the same year, the two reached the South Pole. Mela had turned 16 years old the day before. See photos of the expeditions at Kamiński’s website.

Major League Southpaw

Jim Abbott was born in Michigan in 1967 without a right hand, but he played professional baseball for ten years. Abbott was a star pitcher in high school and led the football team to a state championship as quarterback. He was drafted by the major leagues in 1985, but elected to go to college instead. At the University of Michigan, he won the Sullivan Award for the best amateur athlete (in any sport) in 1987. Abbott pitched for the US team in the 1988 Olympics, winning a gold medal. As a pro, he played for the California Angels, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees. Abbott was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. He is now a motivational speaker.

(more…)

“If this is an Olympic year, it must be time for a boycott,” Tony Kornheiser wrote in the
New York Times in 1976. That year, many African nations were incensed that New Zealand’s rugby team had toured ostracized South Africa. Would Africa boycott the Montreal Games in retaliation?

Kornheiser’s observation hasn’t aged a bit. As the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Games approach, the sounds of “boycott” are being heard again—over China’s heavy-handed rule of Tibet and deadly response to protests in Lhasa, and in retribution for China’s snug relations with Sudan, whose government is blamed for the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Several politicians—including Sen. Hillary Clinton—have urged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies. (The President has announced he will be attending as planned.)

Earlier this year in Paris, protesters forced the relay team to extinguish the Olympic Torch five times, and then take it to its final destination by bus—a humiliating ride for the flame of humanity’s highest ideals. Does it presage a boycott next month? Looking back at the history of the modern Olympiad, it’s clear that, all along, boycotting and banning have been the real sports.

1920 – Antwerp, Belgium
The modern Olympics Games began in 1896, and The Great War had forced their cancellation in 1916. With the resumption of the Olympic spirit in 1920, the defeated powers—Germany (where the 1916 Games were to have been held), Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey—did not receive an invitation to play. The brand-new Soviet Union, recovering from its own revolution and civil war, and busy with the Polish-Soviet War, chose not to attend.
(more…)

Thanks to all who entered our 10th Caption Contest. As always, some of them really made us laugh! Now it’s up to you all to pick the winner, after the jump you’ll find our 10 favorites.
Drop your vote in the comments below and may the best caption win! (Remember: one vote per person please.)

click cartoon to enlarge

And the finalists are…

(more…)