Writer’s bookshelf: Get it right
Since its first publication in 1926, Fowler’s has been an essential for every writer’s bookshelf with its combination of academic rigour and readability. Tina Jackson finds out how it’s put together
Fowler’s Dictionary of ModernEnglish Usage was first published in 1926, with second and third editions appearing in 1965 and 1996. The new edition, edited by language expert and lexicographer Jeremy Butterfield, was published in 2015, and reflects the many changes in English usage in a period of great shift in the culture of writing and publishing.
Joanna Harris, the senior editor for the new edition, offers an insight into creating a definitive reference work for writers and wordsmiths of all kinds.
How does a word get into Fowler’s?
You put in confusing or controversial usages, or words that have changed over time. A word in Fowler’s has to be a word someone would look up. It’s the choice of the editor, Jeremy Butterfield. He’s an expert in English language usage. He did a lot of research, he uses the Oxford English Corpus (a 2.5 billion word collection of samples of written and spoken language in 21st century British English), the dictionary database. A word might get noticed through his own observation – he might look up a word with disputed usage, or a word that’s annoying. It’s a personal project – it’s Fowler’s, and it’s got a huge history, but there isn’t a mathematical process for how things get in. It’s supposed to be interesting to read: a balance between description and prescription.
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