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Levidrome slides into everyday lexicon

Victoria boy’s bid to get word in the dictionary gains steam as focus shifts to the word

Greater Victoria schools are on board with the word levidrome. École Willows Elementary, Sir James Douglas, Doncaster, Braefoot, St. Michaels University School, Lakehill Elementary are among the local schools making boards of levidrome words.

Levidrome is the word created by SMUS second-grader Levi Budd. The now 7 year-old, first made a pitch to get it in the dictionary with a video late last year. The definition is a word that contains the same lettering but spells a different word when written backwards. The simplest example being pots and stop.

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It got attention early, with additions to online dictionaries, most recently wiktionary around the time young Levi turned seven last month. It was also accepted by the Webster’s Open Source Dictionary of user submitted words.

Oxford Dictionary became aware of the campaign through a tweet from famed Canadian actor William Shatner and responded with its own video.

Oxford editor John Kelly recently took to social media to assure fans of the new word that it’s still under scrutiny as a word in every day use – their criteria for addition.

Grammar bloggers and local businesses are on board with the boards and there’s even a new social media levidrome sign game going around the world. People post a photo of a sign with a levidrome in it and then challenge others to the same.

Then there are the beers. It started with one in Sweden, and another in Illinois with the slogan: After one taste of this beer, the dictionary will want to cement the word into the history books.


 
cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com

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Christine van Reeuwyk

About the Author: Christine van Reeuwyk

I'm dedicated to serving the community of Oak Bay as a senior journalist with the Greater Victoria news team.
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