Editing Dord

{{Short description|Ghost word created as a dictionary error}}
{{About|a lexicographic error||Dord (disambiguation)}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
The word '''''dord''''' is a [[lexicographic error|dictionary error]] in [[lexicography]]. It was accidentally created, as a [[ghost word]], by the staff of G. and C. Merriam Company (now part of [[Merriam-Webster]]) in the ''[[Webster's Dictionary|New International Dictionary]]'', second edition (1934). That dictionary defined the term as a synonym for density used in physics and chemistry in the following way:<ref name=Eschner>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-dord-180962266/ | title=As "Dord" Shows, Being in the Dictionary Doesn't Always Mean Something's a Word | first= Kat|last= Eschner | date=28 February 2017 | magazine=Smithsonian | access-date=17 March 2017}}</ref>
<blockquote>'''dord''' (dôrd), ''n. Physics & Chem.'' Density.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dord: The Word That Didn't Exist |last=Mikkelson |first=David |work=[[Snopes|Snopes.com]] |date=4 January 2015 |access-date=6 March 2019 |url= https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ghost-word/ }}</ref></blockquote>

[[Philip Babcock Gove]], an editor at [[Merriam-Webster]] who became editor-in-chief of ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'', wrote a letter to the journal ''American Speech'', fifteen years after the error was caught, in which he explained how the "dord" error was introduced and corrected.<ref name="gove">{{cite journal| first= Philip Babcock|last= Gove| author-link= Philip Babcock Gove| title= The History of 'Dord'| journal= [[American Speech]] | volume= 29 |year= 1954|issue= 2| pages= 136–138|doi= 10.2307/453337|jstor= 453337}}</ref>

On 31 July 1931, Austin M. Patterson, the dictionary's [[chemistry]] editor, sent in a slip reading "D or d, cont./density."  This was intended to add "[[density]]" to the existing list of words that the letter "D" can abbreviate. The phrase "D or d" was misinterpreted as a single, {{nowrap|run-together}} word: ''Dord''. This was a plausible mistake because headwords on slips were typed with spaces between the letters, so "D&nbsp;or&nbsp;d" looked very much like "D&nbsp;o&nbsp;r&nbsp;d". The original slip went missing, so a new slip was prepared for the printer, which assigned a [[part of speech]] ([[noun]]) and a [[pronunciation]]. The would-be word was not questioned or corrected by [[proofreader]]s.<ref name="gove"/> The entry appeared on page 771 of the dictionary around 1934, between the entries for ''[[Dorcopsis (genus)|Dorcopsis]]'' (a type of small kangaroo) and [[Doré bullion|doré]] (golden in color).<ref name=Eschner/>

On 28 February 1939, an editor noticed "dord" lacked an [[etymology]] and investigated, discovering the error. An order was sent to the printer marked "plate change/imperative/urgent". The non-word "dord" was excised; "density" was added as an additional meaning for the abbreviation "D or d" as originally intended,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/erroneous-word-dord-is-discovered-in-dictionary/ | title=Erroneous word "Dord" is discovered in dictionary | publisher=History Channel | access-date=17 March 2017 | archive-date=18 March 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318102122/http://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/erroneous-word-dord-is-discovered-in-dictionary/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> and the definition of the adjacent entry "[[Doré bar|Doré]] furnace" was expanded from "A furnace for refining Doré [[bullion]]" to "a furnace in which Doré bullion is refined" to close up the space. Gove wrote that this was "probably too bad, for why shouldn't ''dord'' mean 'density'?"<ref name="gove"/> In 1940, bound books began appearing without the [[ghost word]], although inspection of printed copies well into the 1940s shows "dord" still present.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| editor-first= William Allan| editor-last= Neilson| collaboration= yes| title= dord| encyclopedia= Webster's New International Dictionary| edition= Second| publisher= G. & C. Merriam Company| year= 1943}}</ref> The entry "dord" was not completely removed until 1947.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brewster |first=Emily |title=Ask the Editor: Ghost Word |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/ghost-word |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240815125341/https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/ghost-word |archive-date=15 August 2024 |access-date=15 August 2024 |website=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Boole's rule]], a mathematical rule sometimes known as "Bode's rule" due to a typographical error
* [[Esquivalience]]
* [[Fictitious entry]]
* ''[[Frindle]]'', a children's novel in which a fictitious word passes into common parlance
*[[Mondegreen]]
* [[Phono-semantic matching]]
* [[Trap street]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.fun-with-words.com/websters_dord.html "Dord" at fun-with-words.com; quotes Gove article]
* [http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0027-ghostword.htm?&t=1305303975 Ghost Word at merriam-webster.com]
* [https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/dord-a-ghost-word Dord: A Ghost Word]

[[Category:Fictitious entries]]
[[Category:Lexicography]]
[[Category:English words]]
[[Category:Error]]