mom, what’s a gerbil?: oxford junior dictionary omits “nature words”, puts in more tech ones
February 4th, 2009 comments (1) stumble it! digg it! by: lambert v.
The assimilation has begun. The latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary will be missing numerous words that pertain to natural things like animals, flowers & birds. A few fantasy and religious terms will also be removed. And what will replace these words? Tech words, like “chatroom”. A word that everyone, even cats, already knows. I hear that the publisher of the dictionary is headed by a certain Mr. Locutus.
The reason for this change? According to Vineeta Gupta of the Skynet Oxford University Press, “the decision to remove nature words is due to the reduced presence of nature in children’s lives.” Hmm. So if a student is weak at math, we should stop teaching him math altogether? And why put already popular words in a dictionary? Why would kids refer to a dictionary for things which they’ll probably know about through their daily activities? Mom and Dad, don’t you want your kids to know the names of the animals in Happy Tree Friends?
Read Dan Gould’s article at PFSK for the complete list of words removed and words added. Mrs. Connor are you listening? Teach John to love nature okay? Nature!
filed under: strange + wonderful technology
February 4th, 2009 comments (1): stumble it! digg it! by: lambert v.
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So basically they want to gain some of the readership from Wikipedia because more people look up tech words than traditional words?
Have they even thought about the fact that people use Wikipedia because they’re on the computer already, reading an article or news source.
Sorry Oxford, the day of going to get a book on your bookshelf to look up a subject is dead.