Did you know there is no lexiographic entry for 'African Methodist Epsicopal Church' in the leading English Dictionaries? Neither The Oxford English Dictionary 2nd ed., Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 5th ed., Random House Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged 2nd ed., and the Merriam-Webster's (M-W) Collegiate Dictionary 10th ed make reference to our Zion. I stumbled across this finding while preparing a chapter for a colleague's book on the Economics of HBCUs. Curious about the omission of 'AME' my interests were swiftly re-directed to other denominations. Much to my chagrin I discovered that other mainline Christian denominations are included in the above dictionaries like the Roman Catholic Church, Episcopal Church and United Methodist Church.

The AME Church, given its unique historical significance, is deserving of a lexiographic entry. Dictionaries represent the basic portal for people to attain the meaning and etymology of words. Language is a basic manifestation of culture. Having an entry in the established dictionaries is important because it confirms that the AMEC is a part of the English language. I emailed the editor for M-W seeking the steps ncessary for lobbying the inclusion of a new word in their dictionary. I plan to do the same for the other dictionaries as well.

Although my obligations in Christian Education are full, I feel compelled to do something to help correct this omission. I am deeply indebted to Bishops Richard Allen, Henry M. Turner, Benjamin Tanner, Reverdy Cassius Ransom (I like that name!) and all who preceded me in sincerely promulgating the Gospel , providng hope to the hopeless and uplifting the lives of ordinary black folks in the US and abroad. I will be thinking about a proposed plan to address this matter in the weeks ahead. If an organized effort was succesful in getting the term, 'nigger', expunged from the dictionary, certainly the AMEC should unite behind the idea of having AME included in the dictionary. QED

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

Answers

Please Sir let me know what can be done. My church is small, however I am going to bring this to the attention of the congregation in my special way. I am sure they would like to know what could be done in a organized way to make this happen for the AMEC. Thank you

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

Bill,

You are a Gem. Do you mean to tell me that "they" have included the words "bling,bling" in the Dictionary & we don't have AMEC. Now something must be done. I mean must!

By the way I am enjoying reading your articles on Economics, I like the way you are simplifying "as much as possible" Economics for the lay person.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

Sis. Nicole is absolutely right! They can add words like bling, bling and dead presidents but no AME in the top five.

Bro. Dickens--let us know how we can help. Petitions, mass emails, letters--whatever it takes, we need to make it happen.

B Blessed PHIL419 kc

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2003