John Willinsky is Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of British Columbia. Among his books are The Well-Tempered Tongue: The Politics of Standard English in High School, The Triumph of Literature/The Fate of Literacy, and The New Literacy.
"Willinsky . . . focuses on the source of the OED's authority--its
imposing database of over five million examples of words used in
context. . . . By scrutinizing OED entries, he exposes ambiguity
and contradiction between citations and definitions and shows a
nearly complete neglect of women and workers. Replete with
statistical content analysis as well as engaging anecdotes."
*Library Journal*
". . . a scholarly study of the more than two million citations in
the dictionary that are used to show shades of meanings of words.
Willinsky questions the authority of the OED by demonstrating how
idiosyncratic the choice of citations often has been."
*Booklist*
"[This] provocative new book dares question the OED; it raises some
points that even the most devoted user of the great dictionary
might want to consider."---Olin Chism, Dallas Morning News
"This lively polemic amounts to an attack on the OED as a
formidable weapon of the English establishment."
*The Glasgow Herald*
"[In] this ambitious book . . . Willinsky argues that the OED gives
unwarranted legitimacy to both the outlook of those who compiled it
and the sources they drew upon. . . . Willinsky lays bare much more
about language and society than can be mentioned in a small space.
Thoroughly and inventively researched, his book deserves a home, if
there's room, on the shelf beside the great dictionary itself."
*Boston Globe*
"John Willinsky . . . offers a study of the Oxford English
Dictionary and how it got that way, its often subtle omissions and
prejudices, and the absolute vastness of its achievement. . . .
Willinsky has made a significant contribution to the appreciation
and enjoyment of our language. . . . If you're a word nut, you need
it. Even if you're only casually interested in our language, there
are scores of tidbits that will intrigue."
*Los Angeles Times*
"The heart of the [OED] is its citations--the examples it gives of
the words it is defining; for, as in any good dictionary, it is
these that ultimately determine the definitions. . . . But, says
Professor John Willinsky in Empire of Words, the citations in the .
. . OED . . . were far too narrowly chosen. . . . Some would say
there was not much wrong with that. Yes, there is, says Willinsky.
It marks the OED as elitist, masculine in its emphasis,
chauvinistic, imperialist even, and in a general way insulting to
minority groups."---Nicholas Bagnall, The Sunday Telegraph
"[In] Empire of Words: The Reign of the OED [John Willinsky] takes
an affectionate but candid look at the great book's shortcomings. .
. . He approaches his study of the OED through a close examination
of its principal sources of authority for its definitions. . . .
It's time, he believes, to make room in the OED for the English of
wider global use."---Max Wyman, Vancouver Sun
"John Willinsky . . . shows [that] The Dictionary is deeply and
unavoidably flawed. Its architecture remains distinctly Victorian,
and anyone using The Dictionary as a tool, or even a temple, needs
to know the colour and slant of the windows they're looking
through. . . . The OED is a brilliant, majestic, endlessly
fascinating homage to a seriously wordy language. Empire of Words
regularly applauds that achievement, while carefully posting
much-needed warning signs all over it. . . . Willinsky is scholarly
without ever being dry, writing with wit, elegance and unfailing
insight. You couldn't ask for a better, more genial guide."---Randy
Harris, Globe and Mail
"What [John Willinsky] found--after years of old-fashioned study
bolstered by a sophisticated computer analysis of the entire OED
text--is fascinating and disconcerting. . . . [While he] never
undermines or obscures the amazing enterprise that is the OED . . .
[he] documents the human foibles undergirding the selection of
[its] famous illustrative quotations."---Steve Weinberg, Star
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