Oxford English Dictionary and the Word of the Year
The dirty secret behind new words
Every year, amidst much fanfare, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announces their word of the year, along with several new words that have made it into the dictionary and many more that haven’t. This sets off the usual trifecta of social media outrage storm, filler chuckles on daytime television, and minor think pieces by minor thinkers. The whole thing is forgotten about in hours, days or careers, respectively, and the masses can forget about words until the same time next year.
However, behind this seemingly congenial word-unveiling is a vast web of conspiracy stretching from Beijing to Baltimore and beyond, in which power and enormous sums of money are exchanged. To get to the bottom of the whole sordid affair, I took an all-expenses trip to London, England, conveniently located towards the bottom-right of the United Kingdom as you approach from outer space.
Unbeknownst to the general public, the Oxford English Dictionary or OED has a highly secretive division of a top-secret department hidden in the basement of its glistening 300m skyscraper concealed in the heart of London’s answer to Hyde Park: Hyde Park. This covert department — codenamed Top Secret Department in the Basement — works feverishly on an enhanced cryptographic task of the utmost…
