Editing Oxford English Dictionary (section)

=== Second supplement ===
In 1933, Oxford had finally put the dictionary to rest; all work ended, and the quotation slips went into storage. However, the English language continued to change and, by the time 20 years had passed, the dictionary was outdated.<ref name=Supplement1957-1986 />

There were three possible ways to update it. The cheapest would have been to leave the existing work alone and simply compile a new supplement of perhaps one or two volumes, but then anyone looking for a word or sense and unsure of its age would have to look in three different places. The most convenient choice for the user would have been for the entire dictionary to be re-edited and [[typesetting|retypeset]], with each change included in its proper alphabetical place; but this would have been the most expensive option, with perhaps 15 volumes required to be produced. The OUP chose a middle approach: combining the new material with the existing supplement to form a larger replacement supplement.

[[Robert Burchfield]] was hired in 1957 to edit the second supplement;<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Revolution in English Lexicography |last=Simpson |first=John |date=2002 |journal=Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America |doi=10.1353/dic.2002.0004 |volume=23 |pages=1–15 |s2cid=162931774}}</ref> [[Charles Talbut Onions]] turned 84 that year but was still able to make some contributions as well. The work on the supplement was expected to take about seven years.<ref name=Supplement1957-1986>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oed.com/archive/oed2-preface/hist-supp-oed.html |title=Preface to the Second Edition: The history of the Oxford English Dictionary: A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, 1957–1986 |date=1989 |access-date=16 May 2008 |website=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516195349/http://www.oed.com/archive/oed2-preface/hist-supp-oed.html |archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref> It actually took 29 years, by which time the new supplement ''(OEDS)'' had grown to four volumes, starting with ''A'', ''H'', ''O'', and ''Sea''. They were published in 1972, 1976, 1982, and 1986 respectively, bringing the complete dictionary to 16 volumes, or 17 counting the first supplement.

Burchfield emphasized the inclusion of modern-day language and, through the supplement, the dictionary was expanded to include a wealth of new words from the burgeoning fields of science and technology, as well as popular culture and colloquial speech. Burchfield said that he broadened the scope to include developments of the language in [[English-speaking world|English-speaking regions beyond the United Kingdom]], including North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, and the Caribbean. Burchfield also removed, for unknown reasons, many entries that had been added to the 1933 supplement.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/nov/30/oed-history-reports-missing-point |title=Focusing on the OED's missing words is missing the point |last=Ogilvie |first=Sarah |date=30 November 2012 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref> In 2012, an analysis by lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie revealed that many of these entries were in fact foreign loanwords, despite Burchfield's claim that he included more such words. The proportion was estimated from a sample calculation to amount to 17% of the foreign [[loan word]]s and words from regional forms of English. Some of these had only a single recorded usage, but many had multiple recorded citations, and it ran against what was thought to be the established ''OED'' editorial practice and a perception that he had opened up the dictionary to "World English".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ogilvie |first=Sarah |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsofworldglob0000ogil/mode/2up |title=Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-02183-9 |access-date=28 April 2024 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/books/sarah-ogilvie-on-deletions-from-the-oxford-english-dictionary.html |title=Dictionary Dust-Up (Danchi Is Involved) |last=Kaufman |first=Leslie |date=28 November 2012 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=8 June 2014 |archive-date=10 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310180612/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/books/sarah-ogilvie-on-deletions-from-the-oxford-english-dictionary.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/26/former-oed-editor-deleted-words |title=Former OED editor covertly deleted thousands of words, book claims |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=26 November 2012 |work=The Guardian |access-date=8 June 2014 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602225457/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/26/former-oed-editor-deleted-words |url-status=live}}</ref>