And how often do you go through this process of updating?

Well, we’re constantly going through this process. Even when we’re not putting out a new edition, we’re continually adding new information into the database from which the next printings and the next editions will come. The new editions come out every ten to twelve years and at that time, we’ll have added thousands of words. In between—when it’s not a new edition coming out but a new printing—we may add several dozen or hundreds of words. So we’re constantly adding new material.

How broad do you think the field is for lexicographers? How many people would you say are currently working in this field, at least with you?

Well, there’s the lexicography done by the publishing companies and then there are the academics—you’ve got people in universities researching this from a theoretical standpoint, or from other standpoints. The Dictionary Society of North America has, I think, a couple hundred members. How many people are actively working in a publishing company creating print dictionaries at this point? Probably less than 50.

Wow. I didn’t know the figure was going to be that low.

Oh yeah. And, of course, there are lexicographers working in England. If you look at the Oxford English Dictionary, you’ve got several dozen more there. But in the United States, there are probably about 50 of us working in print. And there are probably that many, maybe double that, in a university setting.

So it’s probably safe to say that you know a lot of your colleagues.

I probably know most of my colleagues. Yeah, we get together once every two years for a meeting. I’m on the executive board of the Dictionary Society of North America. I—we’re—you know—a squirrelly bunch.

[laughs] All right. How is it that words effectively represent the world? I guess that’s more of a philosophical question, because it’s interesting how, if you look at a word on paper, it’s just a word. But when you actually say it, it forms an experience. There’s emotion attached to it.

You’re right, that’s philosophical. That touches on linguistics and socio-linguistics and a whole variety of related social sciences. You know, words are powerful. Words have meaning, certainly from my standpoint and what I studied in school. My background is in context. I think, whenever you’re looking at any of this, you have to look at the context in which words are stated. Then, in the field of discourse analysis, you’re looking at how what you’re saying or writing is perceived by others. The question that you asked—one could write, and people have written, dissertations about it. That’s a huge, wide-ranging question.