I surely didn't know that the OED had lexicographical "gotchas." Erin McKean says they put a false entry in the New Oxford American Dictionary. Mapmakers and creators of dictionaries, encyclopedias and other references need to do their own research into how a word is used. Thus...the trap was set!

Sure enough, Dictionary.com bit!

Esquivalience - defined as "the willful avoidance of one's official responsibilities; the shirking of duties," as in, "After three subordinates attested to his esquivalience, Lieutenant Claiborne was dismissed." The word's etymology is traced to the late 19th Century, "perhaps from French esquiver, `dodge, slink away.'" Here is an article about it that I found on Language Log. Apparently "Mountweazel" similarly was a false entry into an encyclopedia.

Perhaps Erin McKean should play the Bluffing Game with us because it does sound legitimate.

Michael Quinion also mentions this in yesterday's World Wide Words.

Richard, could you point me to Quinion's article? I couldn't find it?

It's supposed to be here http://www.worldwidewords.org/rss/newsletter.xml although when I looked it up it had all the computer gobbledygook included. But you can still read it OK.

Otherwise you can subscribe (free) to his newsletter http://www.worldwidewords.org/maillist/index.htm

That's the RSS feed for his newsletter. If you use a decent browser (not Internet Explorer) you can subscribe to the feed and receive an update each time a new item is posted. Alternatively you can use a RSS aggregator.

See also http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

The contents of Michael Quinion's newsletter are usually posted on the Web site a week later, so it should be available next week in normal HTML.

quote:

If you use a decent browser (not Internet Explorer) you can subscribe to the feed and receive an update each time a new item is posted.

I use Firefox. I get his newsletter as an email but I don't think you can post a link to that.

As arnie posted, the URL you gave was an RSS feed. RSS is a standard way for people to be notified of updated content on sites like blogs and news sites. (The BBC are using it these days, too.) There's more information about the XML file format in Wikipedia.

Speaking of Wikipedia, Shu told me that there was a pornagraphic picture on the home page today, though I missed it, I am happy to say. Sheesh!

That sort of thing does happen to Wikipedia from time to time, alas. The problem is inherent in the format; anyone may edit any of the pages. Such vandalisms are usually quickly spotted and removed.