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OED Citation for Yours Truly

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:33 pm
by Omphalos
This is a little thing, but I'm happy about it. Ive been reviewing SF reference books lately, and last July I spotted an error in Jeff Prucher's book, Brave New Words, an encyclopedia of the etymology of SF terms. Here is a copy of the response I got just today. It sounds like I'm going to be credited on the OED website for writing the citation and correcting the last edition. Yippee! I'm a published SF researcher!!

IIRC, this book is a product of the Oxford English Dictionary's SF citation project. Its a good book, if you have not seen it yet. Its the best book on the subject of SF etymology that I have ever seen (there are several other, older books that deal with the topic).


OED wrote:
Omphalos wrote:
OED wrote:
Omphalos wrote:
OED wrote:Hi,

I have a large backlog of mail, and am picking my way though it bit by bit. Sorry for the delay in replying.

On 7/9/07, Omphalos wrote:

Hi,

I am in the process of reading Mr. Prucher's Brave New Words book, and I noticed an omission. The word is "plasteel." Mr. Prucher has included this word in his book, but has not included the earliest citation, and an important interim citation. He credits Harlan Ellison with a 1956 work as the first appearance of this word. The earliest use of the word I can find is by Frank Herbert, as follows:

Frank Herbert, Under Pressure, formerly titled The Dragon in the Sea. Copyright 1955, 1956 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc (USA). Copy read: Ballantine Books, August 1976, Fourth Edition.

Plasteel, p. 71, sixth full paragraph, "We could still get by with lighter stuff if it weren't for high atmospheric pressures." He went on to another tube. "What we need is a dielectric as tough as plasteel."

Herbert published his book in the Nov & Dec 1955 issues of Astounding. The book first came out in 1956. In the remembrances section of Dune published by Easton Press, Harlan Ellison recounts that he was hired to review The Dragon in the Sea, which suggests to me that he may have read that term in Herbert before he used it in the work cited by Mr. Prucher.

That's good: an antedating of a year, once we've verified from the original. I actually have issues of Astounding from the 1950s, including the serial of Under Pressure, but they're the UK reprints, which were delayed from the US printing:I suspect actual printing plates were physically shipped from the US, in those dark times before file transfer...). I'll forward the cite to Mike Christie, who does the data entry, and list you as the source, with a request for verification from the serial. (Actually, Mike has a good collection of 1940s/50s US edition Astoundings, and I'm pretty certain he'll confirm from them.)

Finally, I note that the term "plasteel," is also used by Frank Herbert in Dune. Herbert actually gives a definition of the term as he used it in the appendicies of that book.

Frank Herbert, "Dune." Copyright 1965. Copy read: The Illustrated Dune, Berkely Windhover (USA), 1978.

Plasteel, p. 523, "PLASTEEL: steel (sic) which has been stabilized with stravidium (sic) fibers grown into its crystal structure."

We have another cite referring to Dune, so we won't bother with this one. The first known cite, ten years earlier from Herbert, trumps this anyway.

Thanks for the cite. Do send in more, and I will try to respond much more quickly!

Malcolm
NOTE: I marked this up for readability.

You can bet I will, Malcolm! I have two others already!

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:40 pm
by The Phantom
very cool Omph!

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:31 am
by SandChigger
:D

You da man.

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:10 am
by inhuien
Cn I hear a WOOHOO!!!!!!

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:34 am
by GamePlayer
I have a website that needs proofreading, if you're interested :)

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:46 am
by Omphalos
GamePlayer wrote:I have a website that needs proofreading, if you're interested :)
Im still working on this one, so get in line. :wink:

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:20 am
by A Thing of Eternity
Nice work, must feel good!

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:10 pm
by Omphalos
A Thing of Eternity wrote:Nice work, must feel good!
It does. I sent that letter in July and thought they just blew me off. Now I have renewed interest in combing through it again.

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:27 pm
by Liege-Killer
OED = Omphalos English Dictionary? :D

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:21 pm
by Omphalos
Liege-Killer wrote:OED = Omphalos English Dictionary? :D
Specializing in that oft-maligned dialect, Ivronics. :wink:

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:24 pm
by SandChigger
Ugh. :roll:




:lol:

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:34 pm
by Robspierre
Well done Omph!

Rob

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:28 pm
by Nekhrun
Dork. :P

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:40 pm
by SandChigger
:lol:

Best congratulations message yet! ;)

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:42 pm
by Omphalos
Nekhrun wrote:Dork. :P
:D

You know, those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. How's your class doing? :wink:

PS. The Wild still suck.

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:58 pm
by SandChigger
Hey, watch that teach shit. :twisted:

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:08 pm
by Omphalos
SandChigger wrote:Hey, watch that teach shit. :twisted:
Oh! Except for you, of course. :wink:

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:12 pm
by Nekhrun
Omphalos wrote:
Nekhrun wrote:Dork. :P
:D

You know, those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. How's your class doing? :wink:

PS. The Wild still suck.
I've got a lame group in the Dune class this semester. I've picked up 3 more classes teaching night school and weekends for the 13th grade at a community college. I haven't had time to watch any hockey this season, but Gaborik's being a pussy again. I haven't been to one game yet this year.

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:33 pm
by Omphalos
I have been so busy I haven't seen a game in about three weeks. I went to San Jose and watched the Sharks stomp my Caps. I thought the game would be better balanced, but it wasn't.

I also called my time in CC "13th Grade." Are you teaching SF there or something else?

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:27 pm
by Nekhrun
Omphalos wrote:I have been so busy I haven't seen a game in about three weeks. I went to San Jose and watched the Sharks stomp my Caps. I thought the game would be better balanced, but it wasn't.

I also called my time in CC "13th Grade." Are you teaching SF there or something else?
Speech and Intro to Humanities. I just needed a little resume builder as I look around for something else.

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:54 pm
by The Phantom
RE: the casual talk about goin or not going to NHL games on a whim

try living in Hockeytown Toronto... as if being a Leafs fan wasn't painful enough already, if you don't have corporate connections or spend 400 bucks when the tickets are first released for the year, you'll never get to see a game here :(

all I ask if for bettman to fuck off and let balsillie take a team to hamilton or kitchener/waterloo so I have a new Southern ontario team to cheer for :(

that said, GO LEAFS GO!