Today is National Dictionary Day, traditionally celebrated on the birthday of Noah Webster (1758-1843), who, in 1806, gifted our young nation with his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, the first great American dictionary. The occasion inspires me to share this letter, along with my response:
DEAR RICHARD: Reading the preface in Eley Williams’ book The Liar’s Dictionary, I came across this confection: “Whether a dictionary should register or fix the language is often toted as a qualifier. Register, as if words were so many delinquent children herded together and counted in a room; fix, as if only a certain number of children are allowed access to the room, and then the room is filled with cement.” I gather from your writings that you champion the former position. Does that make you a registrant? —Rich Olcott, Coronado
Yes, I am a registrant — a descriptivist who believes that all words shared by a variety of speakers and writers should repose in the dictionary. At the same time, I believe that a dictionary should indicate that some words in its pages should be flagged as “nonstandard.” In short, people influence dictionaries, and dictionaries influence people.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Successful Aging Expo Online returns Oct. 23-30. This fall’s interactive online event offers free admission with a simple registration for all attendees. Celebrating its 12th year, the event will showcase local businesses and services that cater to active older adults, plus a full slate of expert speakers. Presented on an easy-to-navigate online platform, the event brings the audience seminars and demonstrations that include both serious and lighthearted topics. All seminars and exhibitor booths, including mine, are available for viewing on-demand every day throughout the run of the event so that attendees may enjoy visiting at their own convenience.
DEAR RICHARD: One trite comment that raises my hackles is “I would like to take this opportunity to thank this person for...” If you would like to, then don’t tell us what you would like to do, do it, as in: “I am happy to thank this person for...” —Bill White, Mission Valley
At my speaking engagements, hosts often lead off with “I would like to introduce Richard Lederer.” Similar to Bill White’s response, I think, “Of course you would like to introduce me, so get on with it!”
DEAR RICHARD: Years ago, Lakers owner Jerry Buss bought a piece of property in Los Angeles (I am not making this up) that was previously owned by actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Mary Pickford. The estate was known as “Pickfair.” So, ever the comedian, I had to ask, “Does he plan to call it “Bussfare”?
Also: At the 1994 Winter Olympics, in Lillehammer, Norway, a cute American girl, Picabo Street, showed up and walked off with multiple skiing medals. She was quite generous with the money she made from celebrity endorsements and funded a Sports Medicine Center at a hospital in her home town. I observed that she missed a great opportunity! She could have given the money to an Intensive Care Unit, so they could have named it after herself: The PeekABoo ICU. —Mary Jo Crowley, Escondido
DEAR RICHARD: This was a question on “Jeopardy!” that I saw as a child many, many years ago: An eight-letter word with only a single vowel! I loved that clue and never forgot that the answer was: “What is strength?” —Deborah Lessard, Spring Valley
Actually there’s a longer such word: strengths, as in “strengths and weaknesses.”
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How many nouns can you think of that, instead of adding a suffix, as in cats and dogs, become plural by changing internal vowels? Answers repose at the end of this column. Clue: two kinds of people, three animals and two body parts.
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In Moon Tiger Penelope Lively wrote: “We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard.”
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Answers: man-men, woman-women; goose-geese, mouse-mice, louse-lice; foot-feet, tooth-teeth.
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