Unchart-er-ed Territory

Language Log has a piece today on the mis-use of "unchartered" (without a charter) when people mean "uncharted" (without a map).

The OED entry on "uncharted" ~ and especially "uncharted territory" ~ has not been updated since 1921, when the word was still a novelty: it was first used only late in the nineteenth century at the height of European imperialism and the anxiety for filling in all those blanks on the map.

mhe