1. The rigors of producing the most authoritative dictionary of the English language demonstrate many aspects of the book publishing process. Link to the story of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (http://www.oed.com/about/history.html) and read or watch the Booknotes interview with Simon Winchester (http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1488) about its creation.

a. What made the OED different from dictionaries that came before?

b. What made the OED such a long lasting, difficult project?

c. Who was Dr. Miner?

d. What is the current word of the day at the OED site? What is its first definition? Was this a word you already knew?