[NMScience] Nature Words Removed From Children's Dictionary

[Mbatoff at aol.com]

Very sad. Pathetic. Terrible move. The "old" and the new should be  
included.
 
Mitch Batoff
_mbatoff at aol.com_ (mailto:mbatoff at aol.com) 
Past President, New Jersey Science Teachers  Association
 
 
In a message dated 4/14/2009 4:22:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
dthrall at swcp.com writes:

 
Nature Words Removed  From Children's Dictionary
In  order to make room for modern words like MP3 player, chatroom, and 
database,  the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed many  
nature-related words as a result of the changing landscape. So BlackBerry  takes 
the place of blackberry, and so on. Read more in this Next Nature  article 
Children's dictionary dumps 'nature' words:  

_http://www.nextnature.net/?p=3110_ (http://www.nextnature.net/?p=3110)    
To make way for modern tech terms such as BlackBerry, blog, voicemail and  
broadband, the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has opted to 
_drop terms pertaining  to old nature_ 
(http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/551330) .  No longer can a child check this dictionary and  learn more 
about the blackberry, dandelion, acorn, heron, otter, magpie,  sycamore, or 
willow. 
According to Vineeta Gupta, who heads children’s dictionaries at Oxford  
University Press, changes in the world are responsible for changes in the  
book. “When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots  
of examples of flowers for instance,” she said. “That was because many  
children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the  
environment has changed.” 
The 10,000 words and phrases in the junior dictionary were selected using  
several criteria, including how often words would be used by young  
children. 
Words taken out: 
Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade, carol,  
cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar,  bishop, 
chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery,  
parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar. 
Adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi,  
cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron,  
herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt,  otter, 
ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine,  porpoise, 
raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel,  wren. 
Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, 
 blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, 
buttercup,  canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, 
 county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, 
gorse,  hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek,  
liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats,  
pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish,  
rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut,  
willow 
Words put in:
Blog, broadband, MP3 player,  voicemail, attachment, database, export, 
chatroom, bullet point, cut and  paste, analogue. 
Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep,  
citizenship, childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy,  
boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory,  
cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate,  
endangered, Euro. 
Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration,  
colloquial, idiom, curriculum, classify, chronological, block  graph. 
Via _EcoChildPlay_ 
(http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/02/02/nature-words-dropped-from-childrens-dictionary/) . Thanks _Ivo_ (http://www.ivovos.com/) . 



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