Collins is threatening to drop obscure words from its English dictionary this year because it can’t fit them all in. But its ruthlessness is tempered with a touch of clemency—and it’s great public relations: it will save any of the words that appear six times in the company’s database of recent word usage in the media. Celebrities have chosen a word to rescue from a list of 24. Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, is lobbying for the retention of “skirr,” which is the sound that the birds’ wings make in flight. And Stephen Fry has chosen “fusby,” which means short, stout, or squat. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3046488/Collins-dictionary-asks-public-to-rescue-outdated-words.html
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