History of the Balderdash & Piffle Wordhunt

In June 2005 the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) joined forces with the BBC to launch a nationwide Wordhunt. The public were asked to seek out evidence to secure antedatings and information about the etymology of fifty words and phrases.

You can see the full list at http://www.oed.com/bbc-series1/list.html

This twenty first century campaign, aimed at updating what's been called the greatest book in the English language - the Dictionary - was in keeping with the OED's original 'Appeal to the English-speaking and English-reading public' launched by the dictionary's founding editor James Murray in April 1879. While the modern-day wordhunters were armed with more sophisticated research methods, the internet being the first port of call for many, the goal was the same.

The enthusiasm with which the public took up this challenge was astounding and the range of evidence submitted diverse and colourful.

To antedate a word of phrase one could find an earlier appearance of the word or phrase in a book or magazine, in a movie script, a fanzine, or even in an unpublished paper or letter - providing the date could be verified with supporting evidence. The OED were even persuaded to accept their first non written but recorded evidence - the golden rule being that that the evidence submitted could be dated.

Wordhunters rummaged around all resources to hand, digging up memories that gave hints for further enquiry, supplying home-made theories about the origins of the words on the list. The 1500 plus emails and letters that arrived made for fascinating reads - packed with delightful anecdotal evidence, not acceptable to the Dictionary but useful in pin-pointing the location of a word's origin. The Wordhunt also received hard evidence that could be presented directly to the dictionary. One thing was certain: the nation really cares about its language and history.

One of the most distinctive features of the Wordhunt was the nature of the material submitted and subsequently immortalized in the pages of the Dictionary. While the OED's editorial team and reading programme members have access to the conventional tools of the lexicographer - newspapers and books - the wordhunters were utilising material closer to hand. The benefit of this being that many modern words and phrases were first recorded in non highbrow and at times in non published material. While sifting through the tall tales and fabricated documents that were sent in, plenty of compelling theories and genuine evidence surfaced in the form of handwritten diaries, sitcom scripts, records, sheet music, and personal memorabilia.

These contributed to the first series of Balderdash & Piffle, broadcast on BBC2 in January 2006. Each episode focused on words beginning with a different letter, and the series covered: P, M, N, C, S and B.

In each episode, a tribunal made up of the OED's senior editors met to discuss the fate of the evidence submitted. Etymologist Tania Styles, Associate Editor Peter Gilliver and Chief Editor John Simpson sat in judgement. By the end of the series a fantastic 21 entries would be revised thanks to the Wordhunt.

As the series broadcast on BBC2, the public were galvanised into further wordhunting. Watching the decision-making of the OED tribunal (and particularly what caused them to reject certain types of evidence and theories) spurred many more people to keep wordhunting with new fervour and sophistication. A further 4500 emails came flooding in - leading to a follow-up programme, Balderdash and Piffle :The Results Show - a one off episode which took all the newest evidence to the OED tribunal once more, instigating a further 22 rewrites.

In total the wordhunters for the first series of Balderdash and Piffle helped to make 43 amendments, revising 35 out of the OED's roughly 300,000 entries.

If you missed the first series and would like to know more about the 35 words revised by the dictionary thanks to the Wordhunt, click here to access the OED's site for Series 1 http://www.oed.com/bbc-series1/list.html

Series 2: After the success of the first Wordhunt, the OED and BBC joined forces once again, coming up with a new list of 40 words and phrases. The second Wordhunt was launched in January 2007, and by August of that year had succeeded in helping to rewrite 33 dictionary entries.

By navigating this site you can find the full results of the second Wordhunt - which came up with evidence from books, magazines, a TV script, a policeman's notebook, an unpublished school note book, a customs declaration form, a school magazine, films, sitcoms and so on.

The most impressive Wordhunt victory was a 50 year antedating for mucky pup (from 1984-1934).

The winning piece of evidence brought to our attention by the largest number of wordhunters was Jack-the-lad as seen in the 1970 cult classic Performance.

The most exciting pieces of evidence were unquestionably the policemen's notebooks, sent in anonymously (these policemen were not supposed to have kept their notebooks!)