DICTIONARIES

My Word lecturer covered dictionaries yesterday.  She spent time on the famous Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and on Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.

The OED contains over 600,000 words and 3 million quotations to backup those words.  I believe that the printed version runs to 20 thick volumes (my son has a "micro" copy that comes with a magnifying glass.)

But, guess what?  If you have a local library card, you can access the complete work online for free.

If you are interested, there is an eye-opening book written by Simon Winchester "The Professor and the Madman,"  I have it on my Kindle.

There are many dictionaries, including one I wrote:

"The Concordance of X."

Several years ago I watched a "jokester" on a TV interview show.  He bragged about how he had had a lot of fun "playing with people's minds."

He said that he was looking for some written material to use.  He was willing to pay $500 for each document that interested him.  I took the bait.

I thought that he could build a routine with something that nobody would normally have a use for.  I thought that I could create such a thing.

Sitting down with all my five different dictionaries before me, I created "THE FAMOUS CONCORDANCE OF X." Here's an example:

xanthippe  noun  shrewish wife of socrates.

xe  symbol  xenon

xenophobia  noun  fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners

x   etc etc

There are not many X words in English.  I found 200.  I sent a copy of my marvelous creation to Mr. Jokester.  He wrote back something like this: 

"I enjoyed your submission but am now too busy to take on new work."

Other Dictionaries

Baltimore's own H. L. Mencken wrote a quasi-dictionary labeled "The American Language."

I devoured this book when I first came to Baltimore. The story-telling is very entertaining... and eye-opening. It reflects long hours of study.  I have most of it on my Kindle and refer to it whenever I want some brain stimulation.

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. (1899)

Example:  

LOVE - "A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influence under which he incurred the disorder. 

This disease, like caries and many other ailments is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than the patient."

You might have read Bierce's monumental short story "An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge," If you haven't, you must.

The Dictionary of Wordplay by Dave Morice.

The New Oxford American Dictionary Example:  An intense feeling of deep affection. etc etc

Oxford Dictionary of English  Example: 

LOVE - A strong feeling of affection. etc etc

Alphabet Soup by Roy Blount Jr. Example:

LOVE - The Old Frisian version was luve, which may make us think of Woody Allen's character in "Annie Hall," trying to convey to the Diane Keating character how much he loves her by saying, "I looove you.  I lerve you..."

Mirriam-Webster Desk Dictionary Example:

LOVE - noun Strong affection, etc.

When I was in Grammar School, students were given desk dictionaries.  They had lots of explanatory pictures that I would copy.  That probably caused me to love dictionaries.

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