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And the OED winner is…
Posted by Dave, January 26th, 2009
9 Comments
Filed under: Contests.
Picking a winner turned out to be more difficult than we'd imagined.
We started by assigning 100 words each to 13 staff members (entries 1-100, 101-200, etc.). Each of us picked two favorites from our lot, and nominated one or two entries from the rest of the pool.
From 1,297 words, in this manner we winnowed down to a few dozen. Then we voted and cut further. Numerous department-wide emails followed. We held impromptu meetings. It got to feeling a bit like Survivor here in the office. A small clique would take a walk to the coffee shop and the rest of us suspected that a deal of some kind was being struck.
One more vote brought us the winner of a 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary:
crytoscopophilia: the urge to look through people's windows as you pass by their houses
Our winning entry was submitted by Christopher, a student at Portland State University. Here's how he justified his choice:
I often find myself walking through neighborhoods excited by the prospect that I might catch a glimpse of another's private world...in a by no means creepy way. Even to see the decor of a stranger's home is somehow a guilty pleasure, a reminder that there are other lives as private as your own that you can sample but never know. Again, not in a creepy way. Though the word does have a cold and sinister feel. Almost like "tries to cop a feel of you."
"I've often noticed this tendency in myself," Orin, in programming, emailed his fellow voters. "Cool to know there's a word for it."
A note, however, about the spelling. Seems our winning word was born with the prefix "crypto," not "cryto." We quickly found some interesting discussion about the missing p.
When, in 1990, Bill Bryson published Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, his chapter entitled "Where Words Come From" began as follows:
If you have a morbid fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, there is a word for it: arachibutyrophobia. There is a word to describe the state of being a woman: muliebrity. And there's a word for describing a sudden breaking off of thought: aposiopesis. If you harbor an urge to look through the windows of the homes you pass, there is a word for the condition: crytoscopophilia.
Some people here thought our winner should be disqualified for using the butchered Bryson spelling. The majority, however, disagreed. For better or worse, the p-less version of the word pops up in some fairly reputable places these days. "Anyway," Darin argued, "this is the very reason people need dictionaries." Besides, we like Christopher's word. And heck, we tend to trust Bill Bryson, too.
Upon discovering that he'd won the prize, Christopher emailed our webmaster. "Nathan," he pledged, "you and your coworkers are welcome to look through my windows anytime. Thank you all so very much."
Congratulations, Christopher. And thanks very much to all who entered.
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Dave interviews authors for Powell's. He created our Out of the Book film series. He likes cats and dogs.
Books mentioned in this post
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$9.95 Used Trade Paper
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The Mother Tongue
Bill Bryson -
$995.00 New Set Hardcover
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The Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volume Set)
John Simpson and Edmund S. Weiner -
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Out of the Book, Volume 3: State by State
Doug Biro and James Lester and Dave Weich
Darin,
Thanks for sticking up for me. I have the one volume Oxford American Dictionary, and the word in question is missing. I'm not sure where I picked it up but it must have been after the augmented version became popular. As soon as my OED gets here, I'll have no excuse to not spell check.
I love Powell's, thanks again!
Chris.
Wow! Congrats to Chris! That IS a good word!!! Of course, I'm totally jealous even if I don't really have room for such a great collection anyway! lol. I often wonder about peoples' lives as I pass by too...peering in of course! Yay for PSU students! Do we get to find out the top few words that battled it out??? Seriously, I have no idea how you all could narrow it down, but honestly, I do like the winning word. :)
Congrats Chris!! Genius!! But then I already knew that :)
Now I know what I'm doing when I look in people's windows.
Congratulations, Chris!
I guess we'll have to find other books to fill in the shelf space we all cleared in anticipation. I echo the sentiments of Kristin - how about a peek at the words and rationales that jockeyed for top spot? And what about that mystery first selection - can we see that too (to put to rest that mortal dread that an overzealous spam filter kept the winning notification out of our mailboxes)?
So, I'm appropriately late with my favorite; "cunctation"? Ah well, the full OED would have required a new set of shelves at a minimum. Congrats Christopher.
Congratulations, Chris! That is a wonderful word, and an even better justification.
When I read that you'd chosen your favorite entry, I was so sure I was the winner – in a by no means arrogant way – that I spent a good half hour scrutinizing my spam folder for a missed notification.
Clearly, I felt strongly that I deserved recognition for writing a poem about baby eels when I should have been working.
But: many congratulations to the actual winner. Your word is wonderfully absurd, your explanation well-written, and I love that it came wrapped in Bryson-sponsored controversy. See? He totally doesn't know everything.
I,m with eeded and would also like to see the short list.
When you search this word in the OED online, neither spelling produces a result either (see Chris's comment above that it wasn't in the one volume OED version). Perhaps this augments the reason for choosing Chris as the winner? Regardless, it's still a GREAT word, congrats!