🚀 go-pugleaf

A recent newspaper article said that the French Academy has just come
out with a new dictionary, its first in about 50 years.  This is
the official definition of the French lexicon, and many agencies
and organizations require all words used in reports and papers to
be in this dictionary.

This new edition has about 45,000 words (about 10,000 more than the 
last).  While this is more than adequate for most use (although it
probably doesn't have such necessary words as *le hotdog* (or is it
*l'hotdog*?) :-), I wonder how highly technical subjects are discussed
using this limited vocabulary.

In the past 50 years, English has probably added far more than 10,000
new technical terms.  While most of these are not in common use, many
subjects could not be discussed without these words.  (Try talking
about Quantum Mechanics without using such words as quark or hadron.)

I don't understand how the Academy could come up with only 10,000
new words.  And how do those French agencies, which are resticted to
using the official French dictionary, discuss the latest advances in
computer science or physics.  (This was especially true before this
new dictionary.)



 Dan Tilque				dant@tekla.tek.com

 "This is a bust!" she yelled, as she ripped open her coat, boldly
 displaying her ample authority.		--R. J. Wilcek

		From _Son_of_"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"_