SIMPSON is a man of many words - more than 600,000, in fact.

As Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary since 1993, John A. Simpson brought the world's biggest dictionary - and the last word on English vocabulary and usage - to the Internet in 2000.

That second edition, which he co-edited, contained more than 290,000 main entries (and 600,000 word forms) - 40,000 more than the last revision, including 5,000 new words and new meaning of existing words. The entries, definitions, quotations and explanations total 60 million words.

It's regularly updated online once every three months; around 1,000 new words are added a year; 200,000 submissions for new words are received each year.

The numbers are staggering, but Simpson expresses its essence this way: "I would like to compare writing a dictionary to writing a poem. Brief, elegant, and containing a lot of information."

Now Simpson is working on the third edition, a herculean revision and addition of new words that is expected to take at least 15 years.

It's expected to contain at least three quarters of a million words.

Lexicographer Simpson, a medievalist and specialist in neologisms, has been working on the OED for 34 years.

He started on the OED when he was 22; when the third edition of the dictionary is finished, he will probably be in his seventies.

Simpson is anything but the stereotype of a fusty lexicographer, as was his legendary predecessor James A.H. Murray, the OED's first editor.

He is active cricket player, a very sociable fellow, father of two and grandfather of two.

"It's quite interesting that when people step into our office, they always expect us, even my female colleagues, to be very old and wearing white beards," said Simpson, who seemed a little vexed about the stereotype.

Simpson speaks widely about the science and art of lexicography and what it means in the 21st century. He was recently in Shanghai to deliver two lectures at Fudan University.

Simpson's path to the OED started after he received a master's degree in medieval studies from the University of Reading in 1976; he was just 22.

He searched the employment section of Times Literary Supplement newspaper and saw a recruitment notice by the Oxford University Press, seeking a new-word assistant for the Oxford English Dictionary.

"I encouraged him to take the job because he is very patient and he loves history," said his wife Hilary. "And yes, he sees excitement where others may see tedium!" It was his first job, and he has been there ever since.

Since 1976, Simpson has been an editor of the new-word supplements to the first edition of the OED, published in installments between 1884 and 1928.

Ten years later, Simpson became one of the co-editors of the second edition, his major task to incorporate the supplements to the main body.

"We computerized a lot of materials, deleted some repetitions and corrected some mistakes, but the majority of the content remained the same as the first edition," Simpson said.

Even so, its size expanded from 10 volumes to 20 when the second edition was published in 1989.

Today as Chief Editor, Simpson is managing the first complete revision of the dictionary since it was originally published in 1928. Definitions need to be rewritten, quotes updated, and sources and new words added. Seventeen years has passed, and 28 percent of the job has been done, he said.

Every day, Simpson reads words in his office, deciding which can, and which cannot enter this "historical record of the English language" in perpetuity.

A quarter of his working time is spent reviewing what other editors submit, another quarter to editing entries, and the rest of the time he reads, researches and organizes.

"But I'm the editor, not the manager. I'm sure I could make more money elsewhere," said Simpson, "but I just love to make dictionaries. I don't want to be disturbed."

When he isn't working, he plays for Holton and Wheatley Cricket Club in Oxfordshire, and for Oxford University Press's own cricket team - twice a week, he researches family trees and visits family and grandchildren.

"He is not a person trapped in an ivory tower," Hilary Simpson said. "We do all the ordinary kind of things at home, just ordinary."

For nearly 20 years they have cared for their younger daughter Eleanor, who is mentally disabled. She now lives in a group home with her peers.

"Now I'm allowed more time to travel, but I always appreciate her company ... and she helps me to understand people with mental problems better," Simpson said.

Their elder daughter Katharine has a gift for languages, studied Italian and French, and has worked as a translator.

"I expected that she would hate words because she has seen me working too much, but it was her choice to be a translator, and she has a talent for words and language," said Simpson.

"We love spending time with the younger generation," said Hilary Simpson. "For John, they are a source of new words."

Simpson works with 70 editors and coordinates with lexicographers in Australia, South Africa, the United States and other English-speaking countries. Many experts in various fields check definitions for accuracy and levels of meaning.

"When I recruit, I don't like those who say, 'I want to be a lexicographer'," Simpson said. "I don't need theorists. What I like most are people who can analyze and write with accuracy and style, people with a lot of interests."

Nowadays, editors read not only Shakespeare and the classics, but also scientific periodicals, popular magazines, rap lyrics, and even T-shirts and bumper stickers for new usages such as, I "heart" NY.

Behind the scenes is a vast network of thousands of volunteers around the world, contributing new words and new usages they encounter in daily life.

"We want to make the process a democratic one, because the language is living," said Simpson. "As I've said before, it's not about the King's or Queen's English, it's people's English."

Basically, before entering the dictionary, a new word waits at least 10 years after its first appearance in any kind of written document. But sometimes they don't have to wait so long, Simpson said.

Even so, he has strict criteria.

"We try to be as open as possible, but we do need to observe whether a word is used by a larger population," Simpson said. "Sometimes happy parents send e-mails to us, saying, 'Hey, my kid just invented a word.' But sorry, we have to wait and see."

Internet

For many English learners and scholars, it's usually the OED that "has the last word."

"When I found words or meanings or uses otherwise unavailable, I would have to climb a ladder to reach the book neatly placed on the top of a shelf in the library, mostly collecting dust," said professor Lu Gusun, chief editor of the most authoritative English-Chinese dictionary. Lu, from Fudan Universtiy, has been using the OED since the 1960s.

"Most likely, it will resolve our doubts."

But the days of dusting off an old volume and delving into it - with magnifying glass - for the mysterious of the language are all but gone.

In 2000, Simpson moved the whole colossus of the second edition onto the Internet. The third edition, which is expected to be around 40 volumes, may not even be printed at all, but that is yet to be decided.

Users can not only search online for words, they can also search by date and source. For example, the online system can tell us 245 entities from OED originated in China; the oldest one is "li," a measure of distance first recorded in English in 1588.

Simpson and his crew update the online dictionary once every three months. Two weeks ago, several hundred new words and meanings were added, such as LOL, OMG and muffin top. Around 1,900 entries were revised.

About a thousand new words are added each year, Simpson said.

"The Internet contributed a lot of new words and we found many materials from online resources such as Google Books," said Simpson. "The Internet has changed the way of searching and researching."

The Internet has also changed the way the dictionary is made; editors now submit materials via the computer and a data base is built - index cards are no longer necessary.

Still, Simpson oversees five million index cards in the OED archives, each containing a quote, collected from the late 19th century when James Murray was editor.

Simpson both welcomes new technologies and feels nostalgia for the old ways.

"Five million is a small number compared with what we have and what we need," said Simpson. "The Internet and computers are efficient, but I still love the cards.

"From the cards, I recognize my colleagues' handwriting; some of them have passed away, and when you read the cards you miss them," Simpson said, handling cards he brought with him to China.

For Simpson, "the most exciting thing is when you can date a word years back, or when you find a new usage not known to people - that's like a new world opening before you."


Simpson's picks

Queen - It's the first entry I edited. One word I added was Queen Mum, referring to the mother of today's Queen.

Hello - With this word I greet the audience to my lectures. It's a simple and good example showing how a word developed with time. It first appeared in a document in 1854 as a hail during fox hunting, and then it was used on the telephone, and now everywhere. Hello, Hallo, and Hullo all do the job.

Mobile phone - Some words that appear new actually have a longer history than you think. It was first recorded in 1945.

Cultural Revolution - We have had this word in the dictionary for a long tune. Previously it referred only to China's event starting in 1966, until we traced the history back to 1922 in a document about the French Revolution. We then were able to regard the word in a broader and more neutral sense. We try to monitor words.

Tsunami - In the second edition, the entry is short. But after so much happening in recent years, we will have to expand the entry considerably. A word is always more than a word, it is loaded with events and history.


Online updates for March 2011

LOL - Starting in 1960, it denoted a "little old lady."

OMG - Dates back to a personal letter from 1917

FYI - Originated memoranda in 1941

To heart - The new sense of "to heart" as a verb may be the first English usage to develop via T-shirts and bumper-stickers, as in "I 'heart' NY."

WAG - notable for its fast journey to common usage. In 2002, the Sunday Telegraph reported English footballers used "WAGS" to refer to "wives and girlfriends."

Muffin top - refers to a protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers.


By the numbers

OED 2nd edition in print

20 volumes

21,730 pages

137 pounds

60 million words (total); 40,000 more than 1st edition

290,000 main entries, including 5,000 new words

600,000 word forms

2.5 million quotations


1,000 new words added a year

200,000 submissions received a year.

36,000 quotations from the Thames newspaper

33,000 quotations from Shakespeare