As JOHN AND ADELE ALGEO handed over the editorship of "Among the New Words" to us in December 1996, they did two things to insure that we would have a good supply of new words. First, they informed active contributors about where to send citations in the future. Second, they sent us boxes and boxes of citations of unprocessed new words that both they and contributors had clipped out. As a result, we had some 1,500 citations to process by the middle of February 1997. This installment presents the citations we were able to file by the middle of March 1997.

Over the course of the next several installments, we intend to get caught up, but in the meantime we want to thank the following people both for citations and for help with definitions: Stan Aldridge, Adele Algeo, John Algeo, Ron Burns, George Cole, Ludwig Deringer, Martin Dickey, Leslie Dunkling, Connie Eble, Rose G, Dan Goodman, William Hancock, George Kelley, Natalie Maynor, Shawn McGuirk, Rima McKinzey, Allan Metcalf, Michael Montgomery, Brad Muller, Victoria Neufeldt, Frank Nuessel, Barry Popik, Linda Rapp, Gregory Roberts, Randy Roberts, John S. Robertson, Kenneth Saladin,Jeremy Sayles, Luanne von Schneidemesser, Alan Slotkin, Edwin G. Speir, Arnold Wade, and Gaelan de Wolf.

We continue to thank Allan Metcalf and the Executive Council of the American Dialect Society for financial and moral support.

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cobot n [cooperative + robot] Robotic machine designed to help workers do a difficult task (as opposed to displacing them) 1996 Dec 11 Jon Van Chicago Tribune sec 3 3-5 (subtitle & text) Two Northwestern University engineers are developing cobots-machines that, unlike robots, cooperate with workers without displacing them. / ... Perhaps even more important, the experience enabled the two [Michael Peshkin and Edward Colgate] to develop a new concept in robotics: the "cobot," a machine designed not to replace a worker and take his job, but to help him do the job more efficiently and with reduced risk of injury.... [para] ... The cobot will be a computer-controlled device able to hold a heavy, bulky component such as a control panel or a door that must be loaded into a tight space, often at an odd angle, for assembly. The cobot, which is mounted on coaster wheels, will have no power itself but will depend upon the worker to push it.... [para] ... The cobot concept not only reduces dangers, it also eliminates costs inherent in powering a robot with a series of motors.

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WAYNE GLOWKA BRENDA K. LESTER

Georgia College & State University

Copyright University of Alabama Press Winter 1997

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