Σε μια αναδιάταξη της βιβλιοθήκης μου ανακάλυψα το βιβλίο του Robert Burchfield Unlocking the English Language. Ο Μπέρτσφιλντ από το 1957 ως το 1986 εργαζόταν για την ενημέρωση του μεγάλου αγγλικού λεξικού της Οξφόρδης (OED), η οποία κατέληξε στην έκδοση του Συμπληρώματος (τέσσερις μεγάλοι τόμοι οι οποίοι, κατά την αναδιάταξη, πήραν το δρόμο για την ανακύκλωση — και πολύ άντεξαν, διότι απλώς μάζευαν σκόνη όπως κάθε βοήθημα της προψηφιακής εποχής). Στο βιβλίο του περιγράφει διάφορα φαιδρά αλλά κυρίως διάφορα πρακτικά θέματα της λεξικογραφίας. Έχω σημειώσει κάποια που θα άξιζε να ανέβουν, αλλά θυμήθηκα τις ταλαιπωρίες που πέρασε εδώ το ΛΝΕΓ με τους Βούλγαρους όταν διάβασα το παρακάτω για τους Πακιστανούς.
Two definitions in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, one in the early Fifties and the other in 1976, exacerbated things. One concerned the word Pakistan, and the other, the word Palestinian. The editor of the Concise Oxford Dictionary unwisely entered the word Pakistan in his dictionary in 1951 –unwisely, because names of countries as such do not normally qualify for an entry in Oxford dictionaries– and defined it as: ‘A separate Moslem State in India, Moslem autonomy; (from 1947) the independent Moslem Dominion in India.’
It lay apparently unnoticed until 1959, when somebody must have pointed it out. The Pakistanis, understandably, were outraged, and called for a ban on the COD in Pakistan and for all unsold copies in Pakistan to be confiscated. The OUP admitted that the definition was ‘tactless’ and ‘locally irritating’, but pointed out that the intention had been to show that Pakistan was in the familiar, triangular section of territory which had always been called India on maps and in geography books. No political motive was in question. The Karachi police raided bookstalls in the city and seized 215 copies of the fourth edition of the COD. They also raided the Karachi office of the OUP, and seized the only copy of the dictionary on the premises, which was, in fact, the typist's copy. Copies in government offices were commandeered by the police, and apparently hundreds of copies were collected from public offices, schools, and colleges.
After high-level discussion, the Pakistan government decided to lift its ban on the COD in November 1959, after an undertaking by the OUP to issue a correction slip for insertion in all copies of COD sold in Pakistan, and to enter a new definition in the next impression of the dictionary. Later, a more permanent solution was found when the word Pakistan was dropped from the main-line Oxford dictionaries altogether, as a proper name with no other meanings. It remains in the semi-encyclopaedic Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, where it is defined as: ‘Muslim State in SE Asia, formed in 1947 from regions where Muslims predominated.’
It lay apparently unnoticed until 1959, when somebody must have pointed it out. The Pakistanis, understandably, were outraged, and called for a ban on the COD in Pakistan and for all unsold copies in Pakistan to be confiscated. The OUP admitted that the definition was ‘tactless’ and ‘locally irritating’, but pointed out that the intention had been to show that Pakistan was in the familiar, triangular section of territory which had always been called India on maps and in geography books. No political motive was in question. The Karachi police raided bookstalls in the city and seized 215 copies of the fourth edition of the COD. They also raided the Karachi office of the OUP, and seized the only copy of the dictionary on the premises, which was, in fact, the typist's copy. Copies in government offices were commandeered by the police, and apparently hundreds of copies were collected from public offices, schools, and colleges.
After high-level discussion, the Pakistan government decided to lift its ban on the COD in November 1959, after an undertaking by the OUP to issue a correction slip for insertion in all copies of COD sold in Pakistan, and to enter a new definition in the next impression of the dictionary. Later, a more permanent solution was found when the word Pakistan was dropped from the main-line Oxford dictionaries altogether, as a proper name with no other meanings. It remains in the semi-encyclopaedic Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, where it is defined as: ‘Muslim State in SE Asia, formed in 1947 from regions where Muslims predominated.’
Αα, και η άλλη άποψη: 
