UBC exhibit and talk on the Oxford English Dictionary

As English is the most spoken language in the world, an exhibition that tracks the evolution of the English-language dictionaries can only be compelling. The Rare Books and Special Collections department of the UBC library banks on this when it presents the exhibit called The Road to the Oxford English Dictionary, showing how dictionaries evolved and changed as to get to the comprehensive masterpiece that is nowadays the Oxford English Dictionary. The exhibit is free to the public and open November 7 to December 24.

To accompany this exhibit, Stefan Dollinger, assistant professor of English language at UBC, will give a talk called The Oxford English Dictionary, the Grimm Brothers, and Miley Cyrus on November 15 at 12 p.m. He will provide a short history of the dictionary, and discuss the range of words that are, and should or should not be included in this staple representation of the English language. The talk is free and open to the public.