How Do New Words Get Added to the Dictionary? | Interview with Fiona McPherson

In this episode, Ray and OED editor Fiona McPherson examine the tension between linguistic change and lexicographical authority. Rather than treating the dictionary as a static canon, they explore how expanding archives, quarterly updates, and human editorial judgment continuously reshape our understanding of a word's "first use." The conversation also unpacks the illusion of linguistic novelty, showing how seemingly modern terms often carry deeper histories built on classic patterns of English morphology. Also - did Henry Thoreau invent "brain rot"? (Spoiler: yes he did.)