I talked not long ago to a reporter for the CBC’s website about how various slang expressions enter (and sometimes exit) the language. You can find the story here.

A friend later remarked that it was the first time she’d ever come across the words “Oxford” and “bootylicious” in the same story. But further research shows it has happened at least once before: when “bootylicious” was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Linguist Elizabeth Pyatt has written an entertaining blog entry about that momentous occasion.

The inspiration for the story was a US poll asking people what words annoyed them most. Now, it seems to me that with all the troubles in this old world of ours, one’s ire can likely find a more appropriate target than indiscriminate use of ”whatever” or “bootylicious.” As I said to the reporter, “Annoyance is in the ear of the beholder. Repetition can make a phrase annoying but it also makes for a liveliness in everyday life. And you always have the option — if it’s annoying just ignore it.”

Now there’s a thought. –Whatever, as the saying goes . . .

Reports of the demise of the beaver in Oxford dictionaries are greatly exaggerated, David Stover, president of Oxford University Press Canada, said in a statement Wednesday.

Stover was reacting to press reports that “beaver” had been deep-sixed in the Oxford Junior Dictionary in favour of trendier words like “MP 3″ and “blog.”

“Canadians need not fear,” Stover said. “The Oxford Junior Dictionary is a short school dictionary produced for a very specific segment of the UK market. It sells in only tiny quantities here in Canada. Oxford publishes a wide range of dictionaries specifically for the Canadian market, including the flagship Canadian Oxford Dictionary, and you can be sure ‘beaver’ appears in them. In fact, in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, ‘beaver’ and various related terms (’beaver bundle’, ‘beaver hat’, etc.) take up roughly half of page 124.”

Although Oxford restructured its Canadian dictionary operations earlier this year, Stover emphasized that future editions of Canadian dictionaries will continue to be directed and shaped by editors, publishers, and lexicographers working in Canada.

Oxford does not currently produce an exact equivalent of the Junior Dictionary, but Stover said that if such a project were to go ahead in the future, Canadian school curriculum standards for vocabulary would be followed. “I can’t imagine the national animal wouldn’t make the cut,” Stover said. “In fact, it might even make the cover.”

For more information: David Stover, david.stover@oup.com.