It takes five painstaking years to put together the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary and the massive exercise of compiling the new 8th edition began way back,in 2005. Tweet has been included since people like Barack Obama and Bill Gates use Twitter, says Alison Waters,lexicographer and publishing manager with the Oxford University Press,who was on a visit to Delhi. Waters,46,has included 1,000 new words after an in-depth research in lifestyle and cultural changes across the world. The hardest part is that with each successive edition the pages are increasing. We have to crunch the material because you cannot publish 20 volumes, she smiles,flipping the pages of the dictionary. A lexicographer for 12 years,Waters is in charge of 90 dictionaries and has also compiled other OUP initiatives like the Students Dictionary and the Oxford Essential Dictionary. New words in this edition include credit crunch,inspired by the recession,and carbon-offset thanks to awareness about global warming. We make sure the dictionary is a reflection of the world in transition, says Waters,who supervises an editorial team of 15 lexicographers for every dictionary. They visit English-language teachers around the world as part of their research.
