Peter Lang-Stanton

Sex in Dictionaries: OED Editor Lectures on History of Profanity

“There are not many words you could write a whole book about,” said Jesse Sheidlower, Editor at Large of the Oxford English Dictionary. On Tuesday, January 24th, at WORD bookstore, he discussed the one upon which his new book, The F-Word is based, as well as the historical treatment of profanity in dictionaries.

“I do think this is a very important word in our language,” said Sheidlower. “It is largely unstudied because for a long time it was not considered a topic worthy of research.”

Sheidlower’s lecture entitled Sex in Dictionaries was simultaneously academic, ribald, and hilarious. Word-lovers listened to Sheidlower describe the traditionally inadequate treatment of profanity in dictionaries, much of which, he said, was “due to prudishness.” He outlined the common tactics used to elude direct definition including vagueness, circular definitions, foreign language definitions, and outright avoidance.

“Linguists have recognized this problem for a long time,” Sheidlower said.

Sheidlower conceived of the idea for his book while working on a dictionary of American Slang. The voluminous legacy of the f-word was enough to fill its own book, so he did.

“The OED is a historical dictionary,” said Sheidlower. He described how, in addition to definitions, the Oxford English Dictionary includes quotations exhibiting how a word has been used over time. “The F-Word is the OED of [the f-word].”

Jesse Sheidlower has contributed his linguistic expertise to publications such as The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, Esquire, and writes regularly for Slate.

Several months ago, Jenn Northington, events manager at Word, booked Peter Sokolowsky, Merriam-Webster’s Editor at Large, to lecture in Word’s basement. Sheidlower attended the event, as well. After the sizeable turnout for a cerebral dictionary talk, Northington explained, “booking Jesse was a no brainer.”

Northington unfolded spare chairs to accommodate the swelling crowd. She explained her difficulty publicizing the event due to the vulgar subject matter, explaining she kept having to omit profane words. She was glad, however, that Sheidlower came “to fill in the blanks.”

“It was very informative,” said student Emily Newmann, 20. “That was the first time a linguistics lecture made me blush.”

Share