Re: [Dixonary] OT: the infamous "dord" (was "Thujopsis results")

[Toni Savage]

I actually have two copies... one was my grandfather's, and in very poor condition, so i bought another on Amazon for a coupla bucks.

-- Toni Savage


--- On Mon, 1/4/10, Dodi Schultz <schultz (AT) compuserve (DOT) com> wrote:

> From: Dodi Schultz <schultz (AT) compuserve (DOT) com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixonary] OT: the infamous "dord" (was "Thujopsis results")
> To: dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com
> Date: Monday, January 4, 2010, 10:59 AM
> Dave Cunningham wrote:
> > Re: dord -- there was a thread on it in the past, as
> Toni also recalls. (Old Webster, IIRC)***It
> was supposed to be "D or d" meaning "density."
> >
> >
> >
> >***
> It happened with the Merriam-Webster Int'l Unabridged II
> (1934), of which I have a copy (I think that Toni may also
> have one). Some idiot proofreader came across the entry "D
> or d" with the definition "density" (i.e., an abbreviation
> for same, in physics) and leapt to the conclusion that (a)
> the spaces were errors and (b) there was no reason for the
> cap; she changed the entry to "dord." The error wasn't
> caught until 1939; printings appearing in 1940 and
> thereafter were correct.
>
> --Dodi
>
>