Release date 20/02/2002

Concise Oxford English Dictionary

A NEW LOOK FOR THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE DICTIONARY

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has a new image. During the summer the full range of Oxford Dictionaries will be arriving in bookshops around the country with a new look. The new jackets have been designed to reflect Oxford's status as the world's leading dictionary publisher, and its commitment to the spread of learning. This is not just a change of appearance; it marks the end of a five year programme to completely rewrite Oxford's full range of English dictionaries for the new millennium. Drawing on the scholarship and detail of the twenty volume Oxford English Dictionary, every word in the dictionaries has been rewritten after the study of at least 300 examples of each word's actual usage. As well as revising the existing entries, about 2,500 new words have been added to the range of dictionaries including such celebrated arrivals as white-van-man, yah, minger, ladette, adultescent, duvet day, retail therapy, and even SMS abbreviations such as GR8, OTOH, and BCNU.

Oxford University Press is passionate about language and we are always keen to speak directly to our customers. We are launching a new magazine, AskOxford. It contains fascinating articles including a piece by Simon Winchester, a brief history of Oxford Dictionaries, language learning tips, an article about quotations, and a look at the regional vocabulary of Canadian social gatherings. 100,000 copies of the first issue have been printed. Copies are free and will be distributed to schools, bookshops, libraries, language schools, and inserted into journals and other magazines. Like the successful website www.AskOxford.com, the magazine is aimed at people with a general interest in language.

www.AskOxford.com has been operational for less than a year but already receives 500,000 hits a month. As part of our desire to share our knowledge with our customers we are expanding the site. It currently contains a vast array of material about the English language; it has been so successful that we are adding content about foreign languages and culture, foreign idioms and quotations, and also language learning material. There will be over 200 interactive activities on the new site.

Rob Scriven, Editorial Director for these dictionaries, believes "we are constantly improving our relationship with our customers, making our dictionaries better, and trying to share our knowledge and passion for language with our dictionary users."

For more information about the new look for Oxford Dictionaries, the AskOxford magazine or www.AskOxford.com please contact Claire Pemberton on 01865 267911 or email pembertc@oup.co.uk. I can provide images of the new look dictionaries.

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