Celebrating 80 years ...

What’s in a name? Or the definition of a word? A lot to rile Marcus Shloimovitz, according to an article in the Oct. 11, 1979, issue of the Jewish Western Bulletin.

Shloimovitz, “[t]he veteran campaigner for the deletion of scurrilous definitions of the word ‘Jew’ from dictionaries,” was upset at the Collins English Dictionary and its inclusion of definitions that describe it “variously as ‘offensive’ or ‘offensive and obsolete.’” He was concerned that such “‘unworthy’ references” could “provide ammunition for antisemitism, and it is not for the dictionary to use the word ‘offensive’ as a cloak. Such qualifications hardly serve to undo the impression created. It is wrong and morally corrupt.”

The dictionary’s editor, Patrick Hanks, disagreed. He countered, “It is our job to describe the language as it is, including the historical dimension.” He claimed that Shloimovitz didn’t understand the nature of a dictionary, thinking that putting words in it, “gives them an approval status. Nothing could be further from the truth.”