Laid off, eh!

So I read in this CBC News article that the entire Canadian Oxford Dictionary staff have been laid off because of "changing market conditions."

Between home and work, I've bought four copies of the paperback version this year. What can I say, it's a necessity for people in my line of work.

But evidently not so much for people in every other line of work. Or at least for people who think there's no difference between the essential print reference on Canadian English, compiled with matchless passion and meticulousness by Katherine Barber and her three colleagues, and the kind of slapdash crapola you'll find online if you aren't willing to shell out for a subscription.

If I were Ms. Barber, I'd fire off a press release spiced with Canadian spellings, like so:

"I am grateful to have had the honour of working on this dictionary since the beginning in 1991. It has been a labour of love that has revealed to me and to my fellow lexicographers the richness and colour of the English language as Canadians use it. We have travelled across the country, from the smallest hamlets to the largest urban centres, to capture and catalogue our favourite dialect, a dialect we have come to love, eh."

And yes, the word eh does appear in the dictionary, along with definitions of four variations—and a charming explanation of why only one of these variations can be considered "peculiarly Canadian."

For that alone, they shouldn't have been let go.