Wow, you're at it already, Cynthia. If I knew the answer I could be mean and blurt it out right now and we'd all be done for the day. Luckily I don't have a mean streak and don't know the answer either. At all. Will definitely need clues.

TM

Early today because of the brunch I am fixing, so need to do normal weekend
laundry, etc. before friends arrive. I am rapidly deleting items from my to-do list since I spent too much time reading the paper. Sigh. As long as I have clothes for tomorrow, no worries.

I am glad I am ready for tomorrow at school. I always feel rushed when I have to write my morning message in the morning. Much less hurried when I do it the night (or in this case, the Friday) before. I try to use aliteration in my greeting, like Dear Stupendous Students or Good Morning Vocabulary Virtuosos. Even when I have to explain the meanings of the words I use and even when they don't quite remember them, I figure that at some point they will think, hey, I have heard that word before. We'll see.

Cynthia

I remember this one and saw a documentary about his work and read a book about an American doctor/soldier in a British mental facility who contributed to Burchfield's efforts. Good clues, Cynthia.

Edited: As I thought about it I realized that my doctor helped a different person in a different era doing the same job as Burchfield.

Brunch sounds lovely. Think I need to supplement the strawberries I ate for my breakfast with a bit more food. Maybe yogurt sprinkled with flax seed.

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Nov 17, 14 at 21:30

Good morning everyone, everything is still frozen up here but they say it will warm up a bit later in the week. As to today's trivia... I'll be waiting for clues :).

Annette

Good morning all - you were at it early today!! I got everything done yesterday, but the planting of the tulips!! That is a very good thing, as we have slightly more than a skiff of snow this morning. As to trivia, I have no idea, but i see Cynthia and Bobbie are trying to point us in the right direct.

Nancy.

Have been thinking that alliteration is probably a clue. Still coming up dry. Please, ma'am, may we have another?

TM

Something to do with a dictionary?

Annette

You know, the one thing I miss now that we have no tv is the PBS UK channel. They show all the mysteries. My favorites are Inspector Morse and the spin-off from that, Lewis. Morse has such impeccable English and of course, the Oxford setting is just wonderful. I would love to go there someday. Oh well, I suspect Comcast will eventually make me an offer I can't refuse, so maybe we will re-up at some point.

Annette, add the above clues to your thought. The final sentence is not a clue, so you may eliminate that one-no Godfather connection! ;)

Cynthia

No guesses? Would it help if I told you that Burchfield was the editor of the Oxford English dictionary?

I thought being the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary was the answer. I remember he deleted many words while including others including racial words that some found offensive. I think he also re-established the volunteer word submitters.

The book I referred to was:
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Professor James Murray, the first editor, discovered that Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand words. When they decided to honor him they were surprised to find that Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was in an English asylum for the criminally insane. Very interesting read.

Edited to add: While I like Robbie and Hathaway and find Endeavor interesting, I sure miss good old crotchety Morse. Have been enjoying Vera, another crotchety English detective.

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Nov 17, 14 at 21:41

My fav is A Touch of Frost :).

Annette

We love Morse the best, too.

Anyway, here is the link. Burchfield did indeed delete words hich is a definite no-no for the OED. Once a word is in, it stays in which is why it comprises so many volumes now! Read today that the new word of the year is vape. Interesting. I had to look up its meaning (smoking one of those vapor cigarettes).

Have a wonderful week.

Cynthia

Here is a link that might be useful: OED

Thanks, for the link, Cynthia. Very interesting article telling how his deletions were found.

Hoping for a bit of warmup this weekend. DS is headed for Buffalo on a road trip. Hope he plans enough stops so he is several days behind the continuing snowstorms there this weekend.

Oh my. Yikes. I think your DH should head just about anywhere but Buffalo! Nonetheless, it might be kind of fun just to see it.

We are scheduled for a warm up, too. It went down to 13 degrees F here last night. A record for this early, I think.

Cynthia

Oh, Annette, meant to say that I haven't seen A Touch of Frost. If we ever get tv again, I will look for it. Actually, change that to when...