- Joined
- Sep 20, 2018
- Messages
- 2,849
I believe it to be a question of interpretation: it is a record of the English language, and the best of any other dictionary in accomplishing this task, which makes it a definitive historical record, but does not define the language. It is merely the best at describing current usage and it's place in the historical record, like a navigation map describes a body of water.I know what the OED's policy is, which is why I was surprised by:
The links to every one of those snippets read "The OED is the definitive record of the English Language..."
I think that whoever wrote that wasn't thinking about the implications of the word "definitive".
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