You may have read that the new 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary omits the term “cassette tape” from its entries to make room for a bunch of new Web terms like “sexting,” “retweet” and “woot.” Digital displaces analog, get it? Good story, only it doesn’t appear to be true.
The Time website spread the tale, based on a Huffington Post item. The story was played back around the world before someone thought: “You could look that up.”
Mark Longair walked into a Zürich bookstore, found a copy of the new 1,728-page Concise Oxford English Dictionary, and turned to the Cs. “Cassette tape” is still there, right before “cassia” (“a leguminous tree or plant of warm climates”). What they did take out: “cassette player,” but “cassette” is still in there so you can construct that yourself.
Oxford dictionaries are constructed on historical principles, so older terms are the rule. Besides, millions of audio cassettes are currently in use all over the world. They’re even hip. So rewind that “no cassette tape” story, then hit” erase.”
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: cassette tapes, COED, Compact Oxford English Dictionary, dictionaries, English language, lexicons, Oxford English Dictionary, tape cassettes
NotionsCapital 
August 30, 2011 at 3:11 am
Dang, I was still looking for that Art Garfunkel “99 Miles to LA” 8-track tape we listened to 15 times a day in college.