What's The Meaning?

This is a quick one…So, I read an article this morning about the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) having the definition of “Siphon” wrong for the last 99 years. Yep, WRONG for 99 YEARS!! Something along the lines of a ‘minor’ error in the understanding of physics, gravity flow, etc. Not my strong point, but that’s my point. One of oldest forms of research, and I’m sure respected just as long had no process of follow up? (???) As a dear friend says all the time, “No check and balance” Hmmm…

What tickled me the most I think and what prompted me to write this was the explanation given for the “mistake”; the editors who defined the word were not scientists. So, it took one person to dig a little deeper to discover this almost a century later, and not just in the OED, but in other dictionaries? The article stated OED will correct the error in the next edition release.

A bonus for the dictionary market, I suppose. For those of us who still enjoy the feel of having a real book in our hands and probably have the same dictionary on our bookshelves that we used to look up our 6th grade spelling words, will now look twice at our trusted friend ‘The Dictionary’. Does this mean I will now go out and get a new one? Probably not. Will I now wonder about and question the definitions listed? Did that already.

I’m wondering if this will lead to an onslaught of “revisions” and other discoveries. Interesting to see where it will lead.

I think the guy who discovered it should’ve waited until it was 100 years; only because I like nice rounded numbers.