From: Graeme Thomas <graeme@graemet.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 23:20:59 +0000
Subject: Re: PODS
Message-id: <lKPilVAbXvn0EwEg@graemet.demon.co.uk>
In message <3.0.2.32.19971222155624.006d1fb4@epix.net>, Steve Oliger <soliger@epix.net> writes
You seem to be questioning my statement that OSW isn't particularly stable. I got that impression from past Graeme Thomas postings on cgp (probably before you were a member.) Apparently OSW changes have been considerably more frequent than OSPD changes. My apologies to Graeme if I misinterpreted his posts....It all depends on what you mean by "stable". Since 1983 Chambers have committed to publishing their dictionary every 5 years, and Scrabble tends to go with the latest version.
OSW1 was published in 1988, and adopted for club and tournament use in January 1989. OSW2 was published in 1990, and adopted in January 1991. Both were based on the 1988 edition of Chambers Dictionary. OSW2 was brought out mainly because OSW1 had been produced in too much of a hurry.
OSW3 was published in August 1994, and adopted in January 1995. It is based on the 1993 edition of Chambers Dictionary.
The next edition of Chambers Dictionary will be published in August 1998. It is not clear what will happen after that. If the previous pattern holds, then OSW4 would be published in 1999, and would be adopted in January 2000. However, it is possible that the book published in '99 will be SOWPODS, or something else.
As for OSPD, I'm not sure of the dates. I think there was an 11 year gap between OSPD1 and OSPD2, but since then the changes have been much more rapid. The new word list, whatever it's called, seems to be revised every couple of years.
One other difference is that the various OSW changes have deleted lots of words. I think that OSW1 -> OSW2 lost about 1200 words, and OSW2 -> OSW3 lost about 950. The OSPD changes have only lost a handful of words.