Collectable Obama

Last night I went to Walgreen's to pick up a couple of things. Prominently displayed in the front of the store was a stack of "Barack Obama Collectable Plates." (I didn't have a camera with me, but I've posted below an image of the plate we found at, believe it or not, http://www.barackobamacollectables.com/.)

I voted for Obama and am excited about his upcoming administration. I've also long turned up my nose at the word "collectable." I've always considered this a misspelling of the word "collectible," and I was bemused that a company had so blatantly incorporated an error not only in their product but in their very name.

But I was wrong about this. I've looked into it, and it seems that "collectable" is the only listing in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Collectible" appears but is not given its own entry; it is a variant spelling, notably common in the United States. Here's the entry:

Also (now chiefly U.S.) -ible. [f.

COLLECT v. + -ABLE.]

A. adj.

1. a. That may be collected.

1660 Eng. Monarchy the Freest State 6 Many other particulars, collectable out of..Magna charta. 1662 PETTY Taxes 45 Collectible by a very few hands. 1803 SOUTHEY Lett. (1856) I. 243, I am weaving into it all the collectable circumstances of the time and manners of the people. 1888 BRYCE Amer. Commw. I. I. xxiii. 333 A penalty collectible on summary Conviction.

b. Of souvenirs, objets d'art, bric-à-brac, etc.: worth collecting, sought after by collectors. Also transf., of the maker (artist, author, etc.) of such objects.

1888 P. FITZGERALD in Gent. Mag. Apr., Old play bills, like everything that is ‘collectable’..have now become objects of value and desire to the amateur. 1897 Daily News 10 July 8/3 There was no difficulty in pronouncing these [Jubilee] stamps ‘collectable’. 1961 J. DOUGLAS (title) Collectable things. Ibid. p. 39, I believe that one of these days collectors will wake up to the fact that the last hundred years has seen the making of more collectable bottles than at any other period of history. 1971 D. POTTER Brit. Eliz. Stamps iv. 56 The lines were placed down the vertical perforations, to either the right or to the left, producing two collectable varieties. 1978 Lancashire Life Sept. 90/2 Even now that she has become collectable she sells her pictures often at less than half the prices she has been offered. 1980 Daily Tel. 24 July 15/8 As well as being highly collectable..they make surprisingly roomy containers for all sorts of items.

2. That may be inferred, deducible. Obs.

1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep. II. i. 51 The difference of their concretion is..collectible from their dissolution. 1658 Hydriot. 2 Collectible from Scripture-Expression.

B. n. pl. (orig. U.S.) Things worth collecting, esp. rare, old, or interesting objects (not necessarily valuable or antique).

1955 W. H. BLUMENTHAL Bookmen's Bedlam 149 The range of collectibles is..endless. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. (Show Guide) 16/3 Tradecards became collectibles during their time... Adults pasted them in albums. Boys and girls swapped them. 1969 Canad. Antiques Collector Oct. 5/2 The most popular collectibles are objects of pressed and art glass produced in Canada and the United States. 1974 Saturday (Charleston, S. Carolina) 20 Apr. 8-A/6 Collectibles such as old prints, books, magazines, manuscripts and items offering a chance for reminiscing for those who have fond memories of the..twenties and thirties. 1978 J. L. HENSLEY Killing in Gold xi. 152 My friends..like having some of their funds in good collectables. 1984 Buses Dec. 569/2 This is a full-time service catering for the best in transport collectables.

Doubtless, it is Democrats like me--who fret snobbishly about butt-ugly kitsch--that so encouraged Obama's opponenets to label him as a cold and proud arugula-eater. But we showed them. He is now featured on a popular line of collectables.