A Vancouver Sun story by Karenn Krangle discusses a worthwhile lexicographical project:
The rewriting of Canada's historical dictionary begins not with the letter A but with C. For Canuck.The new edition has a website here. Thanks for the news link, Marja-Leena! Posted by languagehat at March 12, 2007 08:03 PMThat quintessentially Canadian term, which defines us, makes fun of us, sometimes brings joy to sports fans and has a history older than Confederation, is a starting point for lexicographer Stefan Dollinger, who hopes Canadians will get to know their language a little better.
Dollinger leads a University of B.C. project to revise the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, which lists 10,000 words of significance to Canada, each with its own history.
The 927-page, one-volume dictionary was published in 1967 out of the University of Victoria and hadn't been updated. But with 40 years of explosive technological change, economic growth and significant shifts in the population, the dictionary has become outdated....
And because I don't want the other large British outpost to be forgotten, here's a list of Australian slang, unfortunately without the historical information:
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html
Posted by: Antonios at March 13, 2007 08:53 AMI can't believe the first one missed "butter tart." And now I wonder if it had "Nanaimo bars." What about "Mandarin oranges?"
Hmm. I'm hungry all of a sudden.
D
Posted by: Derryl Murphy at March 15, 2007 10:27 PMWouldn't that be a 'Q' for Qanuk? (Yup'ik word for "snowflake")
Posted by: jim at March 25, 2007 01:00 PMNot unless you're writing a dictionary of Yup'ik.
Posted by: language hat at March 25, 2007 02:05 PM