Word Up: The Oxford English Dictionary In Agreeance With FRED DURST

LIMP BIZKIT frontman Fred Durst has a solid grasp on the King's English, despite detractors. While speaking against the war at February's Grammy Awards, Durst noted, "I just hope we are in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible."

And "the amateur grammarians pounced," wrote The New York Observer. Barry Koltnow of the Orange County Register called him "illiterate." The Atlanta Journal Constitution said its copy desk was "in agreement that 'agreeance' isn't a word."

The Weekly Standard called the performer "Fred Dunce" and as far away as Sydney, Australia, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper called it a "fact" that agreeance is not a word.

However, some fact-checking appears to be in order, as The New York Observer proved when speaking with Jesse Sheidlower, the principal North American editor of The Oxford English Dictionary. Sheidlower states that agreeance is a word and that Durst used it correctly.

"It's in the OED," Sheindlower told the paper. "He did use it correctly.

Sheindlower said that "agreeance" was an obsolete word, having passed out of circulation by about 1714, but noted that it was still used occasionally — especially in Australia.

"It's a perfectly regular formation," he told The Observer, "... 'Agree' is a common word '-ance' is a very common suffix. The meaning of sticking together 'agree' and '-ance' is what you'd expect it to be."

Reading from the text, Sheidlower said The Oxford English Dictionary defines "agreeance" as "the act of agreeing, AGREEMENT, agreement in several of its meanings."

Hagit Borer, chairwoman of the University of Southern California's linguistics department, also defended Durst, calling his word choice "innovative" and noting that the English language was malleable.

"It's not a conventional usage but I wouldn't say it's wrong," Borer said. "It indicates is that he was making creative use of the language. That doesn't make it wrong."

"People no longer really use 'dreamt' for example," she said. "They use various other forms. This is how the language changes. People don't remember a form so they make up new one."

The New York Observer stated that democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bob Kerrey — now a university president at New York's New School — used it in 1997 when he testified about I.R.S. reform before the House Ways and Means Committee. "We are encouraged by the administration's agreeance that the I.R.S. must change," Kerrey said.

Of course, there's also the distinct possibility that, under the pressure of the Grammy spotlight, Durst simply invented a word that happened to actually exist.

"I am sure he wasn't reading Coverdale's translation of Erasmus' paraphrase of the New Testament, and came across it and decided to use it," Sheidlower said. But, he added: "There is nothing to say that he couldn't have spontaneously recoined it. Which I assume he did."

Durst, now in New York City mixing LIMP BIZKIT's new album, said, "I'm glad someone took the time to find out the truth."