Fake entries for copyright protection

Apparently, encyclopedias and dictionaries will sometimes include fake entries to allow them to identify works that are copying their own. The New Yorker talks about one such case in the New Oxford American Dictionary. The word, as of 9/9/2005, is up over 800 hits on Google. The article is interesting… not only does it reveal the word, but it also talks about the pain involved in tracking it down. Luckily, the publishers were kind enough to confirm the word after presented with the results of the investigation.