Gove's work on Webster's Third was highly controversial for its descriptive rather than proscriptive approach, its minimalist approach to labeling informal or slang terms as such, and the inclusion of swear words with the notable exception of fuck.[3]
Gove died at his home in Warren, Massachusetts of a heart attack on November 16, 1972, survived by his wife and three children.[1]
Herbert C. Morton. The Story of Webster's Third: Philip Gove's Controversial Dictionary and Its Critics. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
James Sledd and Wilma R. Ebbit, editors. Dictionaries and That Dictionary. Chicago: Scott Foresman, 1962.