Words removed like “aisle,” “bishop,” “chapel,” “empire,” and  “monarch,” from the Oxford University Press Junior Dictionary.  These words are replaced with words like “blog,” “broadband,” and “celebrity.”

Westminster Abbey may be one of Britain’s most famous landmarks but the word abbey now has been deleted from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.  Words like ‘MP3 player’, or ‘voicemail’ or ‘attachment’ are included. 

 These changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is now modern, multicultural, multi-faith society according to the publisher. The changes according to the academics and head teachers to the 10,000 words Junior Dictionary may mean children will lose touch with Britain’s heritage. 

Professor Alan Smithers said, “we have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years.  To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable.”   Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University, also said “the word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us.”

A mother, Lisa Saunders is overly concerned and has taken time to compare entries from the junior dictionaries aimed at children aged seven or over dating from 1978 until 2007.  She is just “horrified” by the vast number of words that have been removed and for the most part since 2003. 

Saunders said, “the Christian faith still has a strong following and to eradicate so many words associated with the Christianity will have big effect on the numerous primary schools who use it.” This realization came to Ms Saunders when she was helping her son with his homework and discovered that “moss” and “fern” which were in the editions up until 2003 were no longer listed.  “I decide to take a closer look and compare the new version to the other editions,” said Saunders, mother of four from Co Down, Northern Ireland.  “I was completely horrified by the vast number of words which have been removed.  We know language moves on and we can’t be fussy about it but you don’t cull hundreds of important words in order to get in a different set of ICT words.” 

Wellington College, a leading private school in Berkshire where Anthony Seldon is the master said, “I am stunned that words like “saint”, “buttercup”, “heather” and “sycamore” have all gone and I grieve it.  “I think as well as being descriptive, the Oxford Junior Dictionary has to be prescriptive too, suggesting not just words that are used but words that should be used.  It has a duty to keep these words within usage, not merely pander to an audience.  We are looking at the loss of words of great beauty.  I would rather have “marzipan” and “mistletoe” then “MP3 player.”

The junior edition is produced by Oxford University Press selects words with the aid of the Children’s Corpus.  Words from children’s books and terms all relating to the school curriculum are inclusive in the list of about 50 million words made up of general language.  When making additions and deletions lexicographers consider word frequency. 

The head of the children’s dictionaries at Oxford University Press Vineeta Gupta said, “we are limited by how big the dictionary can be, little hands must be able to handle it, but we produce 17 children’s dictionaries with different selections and numbers of words.

"When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers for instance. That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed. We are also much more multicultural. People don't go to Church as often as before. Our understanding of religion is within multiculturalism, which is why some words such as "Pentecost" or "Whitsun" would have been in 20 years ago but not now."

Many of the words are added to reflect the age-related school curriculum.  The children’s dictionaries were used as a trial in schools and advice taken directly from the teachers.

Words taken out:

Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, Dwarf, elf, goblin, Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar, Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade, adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.  Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, licorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Words put in: 

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