Roksy’s Reviews > Lost for Words: The Hidden History of the Oxford English Dictionary > Status Update

'If you happened to be a famous author... your boldness [in creating a new word or cribbing a foreign word] was likely to be held to "enrich" the English language', [linguist Roy] Harris argued. On the other hand, 'if you were just a reporter writing for the local paper, or a civil servant drafting a document, you apparently had no business introducing new words at all, however useful.'

"Language would always move beyond the apparent fixity which the dictionary might impose upon its forms."

'Lost Words'