Riley, the first ever dog in the world to get his name from the electronic Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, died Saturday.
Photo credit: Glen McMillan
Glen visited me in 1988 when Riley was young and nameless and I was working on the electronic OED; leafing through the text he encountered an entry for “Life of Riley” and it was already obvious that was the kind of life the dog would lead, so he became Riley.
The picture doesn’t capture Riley’s remarkably long legs (as a young dog, he was insanely fast) or affability. He lived long and enjoyed life.
