Like Porn for English Majors...Or Writers

I went to visit my library account online to see how I was faring in the queue for several books I have on hold. To my dismay, the link was down. While investigating the main library page, I started wondering who wrote the articles on there, wondered if maybe I could get in on that somehow, and then spotted this article.

At first I had a small cow. The OED? Gone? Forever? Extinct? Then I realized they would just be online. Which is fine. Except it costs money to get, right?

That was what I thought until I saw the link that allowed library card holders to access the OED Online. I had a moment of denial. "No....really? No....I can?" I went through, put in my library card number, and lo and behold, there it was. The OED Online.

I probably looked like I'd just orgasmed in my chair.

See, I loooove the OED. Looooooove it. The OED is the best thing since sliced bread, maybe better since slicing bread isn't all that hard. I had access to it while in school at Illinois State University, but after that, no dice. I was very bummed. Sure, definitions are a dime a dozen, but what I love best about the OED is that it has documented uses - as in the first time a word was used and then in subsequent years after that. I used "lexicon" as my test drive word (hey, it's what popped in there), and sure enough, there was the entry, it's origins, and it's first use ever in 1603. Pure yayness.

If you've never experienced the OED, you should. It's a grand thing. Heck, see if your library supports it and allows you access the way mine does. I've been here a year and never knew they did that. I've been contemplating breaking into my dad's UMKC account to see if he had access to it.

I am just so thrilled. I just had to share my joy. Long live the OED indeed!