In 1962, English professor Frederic Cassidy presented a paper at a scholarly conference called, “The American Dialect Society Dictionary: How soon?”
About 50 years, it turns out.
The Dictionary of American Regional English founded by Cassidy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is nearing completion of its final volume of text covering S to Z. A new federal grant will help the volume get published next year and allow the dictionary that linguists consider a national treasure to prepare to go online.