One of the best things for me about being in the working world is discovering all the fascinating if not slightly odd jobs that are out there. Like, someone writes those little strips of paper for fortune cookies... and if your cat has been looking a little frazzled lately, it's all going to be ok because there are pet psychics out there who telepathically access an animals unsaid thoughts and emotions.
Perhaps not quite as odd, but nevertheless a job I'd never considered before, is the Oxford English Dictionary bibliographer. The position is currently held by Veronic Hurst and she's found herself in a bit of a predicament. 51 entries in the OED cite the 1852 book, Meanderings of Memory written by Nightlark. The dilemma is not that the book was written by a wannabe supervillain, but that it appears to have vanished entirely. The OED is therefore now appealing to the public in the hope that someone will be able to help them trace this, likely pornographic, book on which 51 words rely on for their existence.
It all started off when someone OED was working on the word 'revirginize', an entry that is supported by a quotation from Meanderings of Memory, which reads: "Where that cosmetic … Shall e'er revirginize that brow's abuse." But the book couldn't be found.The theory that the book is in some way pornographic came about when OED were trying to determine why a book might not be readily available in the public domain. But if you know anything to the contrary or, in fact, a copy has slipped incognito into your collection under your bed... best get in touch with Veronica Hurst at OED. Now there's a real mystery. None of this Da Vinci Code stuff.
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