Word wonders from the OED

The OED is the be all and end all when it comes to dictionaries.

I know that's just about the dorkiest statement that can be made without using the terms dungeon or super power, but it's totally true.

The Oxford English Dictionary is the - to quote Wikipedia's article - "the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language" and - according to the official OED website - "[t]he definitive record of the English language". If something's a part of the English language, it's in the OED. And the converse is true, too: if it's not in the OED, it's not a part of the English language.

Each year the OED announces the new words that have made the new edition, and there is news coverage announcing the furor over bling-bling and e-mail being added into the official record. Nobody cares, on the other hand, when something comes into and out of Webster's. The OED is to Webster's as a professional basketball player is to my grandma - the dead one.

And it's freakin' cool that they OED folks offer Ask Oxford, a website that let's you ask all those weird word-related questions that you've ever wondered:

• Which words rhyme with orange? ask Oxford
• Is there an eight letter word with five vowels in a row? ask Oxford
• What's the feminine equivilent of fraternal? ask Oxford

I could spend hours and hours on that website.

I am such a dork.