Thanks for your help!

When the first edition of the Macquarie Dictionary was published I included in it a small newsletter that told the dictionary users a little about the dictionary team and invited them to become contributors.  I explained that dictionary editors are like word catchers setting out to cast their nets and ensnare word butterflies.  But since we are normally chained to our desks, our nets can only go so far. We mostly stuck to a fairly limited range of reading and listening habitats, and so we needed everyone who used the dictionary to contribute to the dictionary as well.The response was great.  Dictionary enthusiasts got into action, sending their material as written up notes or just as marked up snippets torn from the newspaper. One contributor stuffed all his snippets into an empty Kellogs box. The contributions flowed in until a new publisher decided that it would be a good idea to get everyone to cough up some money for the newsletter, an idea that more or less killed the newsletter stone dead.

 But the idea lingered and has been transformed into a dictionary website inviting contributions, social media enabling discussion, and so on.  

 Now that I have set up my own website, I am still convinced that on my own I cannot possibly be aware of all that is happening in Australian English. This was illustrated recently by the contribution of the person who sent me the details about the Ampol foodary. Others  have come in to comment, having noticed a foodary nearby and being similary taken aback. OMG! was a common response.

 So I am always grateful to get your observations on the language landscape. I am even more chained to my desk than usual these days so having eyes and ears out there to alert me to whatever is a new language feature is a wonderful thing. Thank you all!