I have only just seen this in my inbox, but it looks worth doing!!

Do you have a ‘benny’ if you can’t find ‘owt’ in your familiar local lingo when you are writing documents and letters?

To celebrate the launch of the 2007 Office system and the richness of the British language, Microsoft has partnered with the British Library to develop a series of online dictionaries made up of local dialects...and we want you to contribute!

How many people talk about ‘hoying’ a ball or even taking a ‘crib’ when they have a cup of tea? With an ever increasing mobile population, Microsoft and the British library and keen to preserve local identities and heritage.

Jonathan Robinson, curator of English accents and dialects at The British Library says: “Britain has a rich heritage of different accents and dialects and, contrary to popular opinion, there is still a great deal of lexical diversity across the UK - where else would you find the words ‘cob’, ‘batch’, ‘bun’, ‘barm cake’, ‘stotty cake’, ‘scuffler’ and ‘bread cake’, all meaning bread roll?” said Jonathan. “But the English language is constantly changing. Due to a complex combination of influences, local words occasionally disappear from common usage or are replaced by others which become absorbed into our everyday vocabulary.”

Darren Strange, Microsoft Office 2007 product manager, will also join Jonathan in judging the contributions to the new online dictionaries.

“Lots of people believe that regional dialects are dying out, but this is a popular misconception,” added Darren. “It’s the diversity of Britain’s dialects that has led us to develop the new dictionaries. So in future, your Microsoft Outlook will be able to recognise emails where you ask your ‘marra’ to get you a ‘buttie’ instead of inserting red lines beneath all the unfamiliar words,” said Darren Strange. “We wanted to give everyone the chance to adapt and personalise their software, and at the same time recognise the diversity of dialects we use here in the UK that makes us completely different to any other country in the world.”

The dictionaries will be available for download into Office. Once you have downloaded the dictionaries, you will be able to type in your own dialect words without seeing red lines appear under every word simply because your software doesn’t recognise it.

How do I contribute?

Simply email your favourite regional dialect words, from ‘barnet’ to ‘barmy’, along with a definition and the area that the word comes from (if you know) it, to dialect@microsoft Your contribution will then be reviewed by the British Library’s curator of English accents and dialects Jonathan Robinson and Microsoft’s Office 2007 product team, and included in the dictionary when it ‘s compiled in June. You can contribute as many words as you wish, but swear words and slang won’t be considered!

When is the project running?

Microsoft will accept emailed contributions until 31st May 2007. Judging will then take place and the dictionary downloads will be compiled and publicised in June.

Source: Microsoft Local Dialect