Word by Word the secret life of dictionaries by Kory Stamper

Words have always been part of our family's life, conjoined with books, being abundant and omnipresent. Regular bookstore and library trips were necessities of life. Clear memory begins no later than as a teen forward of the dictionary preeminence in the kitchen. Appropriate usage and clear understanding were expected in table conversation. And my father clearly delighted in obfuscating meaning by using words and expressions uncharted by me and hence, his need for me to search the dictionary so that I would understand him. Ridiculous indeed!

Paradigms are made to shift and so mine did one Saturday when I was 16. I was preparing eggs for breakfast and was made to realize that I must keep my fork parallel to the pan’s bottom, using the word 'tine' heretofore unknown by me, as in the tines of a fork. I dutifully found the word, pronunciation and demonstrative sentence in the foreboding OED.

After breakfast I drove to the high school to take my SAT test and lo-and-behold what was the first word in the vocabulary section but 'tine'. I knew it! I owned the test from that point forward. Also I never begrudged my father compelling me to search a definition.

Word by Word the secret life of dictionaries by Kory stamper

I feel I have a reasonable grasp of words, grammar, and language, that is until I read a book like Word by Word; then I realize what an amateur and unlearned person I am. Kory is a lexicographer with Merriam -Webster in this book she pulls back the internal process curtain; and flaunts a word usage or two.

Dictionaries are prescriptive not descriptive. As such they record and categorize word usage they don't canonize and provide the definitive answer. Its been along time since I’ve studied the basics of grammar which they abide by: Person place thing – nouns; Describes action – verbs; Modifies nouns – adjectives; Answer the ‘w’ questions – adverb; Joins words together – conjunction; Things we say when you're happy, surprised, angry – interjection. The necessity of grammar " it is with reason expected of every person of a liberal education, and it is indispensably required of everyone who takes to inform or entertain the public, that he should be able to express himself with propriety and accuracy" Lowth - 1762

Oft she uses words I have no idea what they mean and must look up e.g. Cromulent -uncertain, possibly "acceptable," or "fine" ... but search further and "it is safe to say that The Simpsons has contributed a great deal to the English language. One famous example is cromulent, which was coined specifically for the 1996 episode “Lisa the Iconoclast." In reference to one character’s questioning of the use of embiggen, another says “it’s a perfectly cromulent word.” Despite being a complete fabrication, the word caught on, and seems to be made for the internet". An example of how the dictionary records language evolution not prescribing rigorous adherence to formulaic prescription. An interesting online etymology of 'mansplain' - (of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing. Ouroboros - a circular symbol depicting a snake, or less commonly a dragon, swallowing its tail, as an emblem of wholeness or infinity.

A few interesting process words:

Inclusionist - would include clued every word ever uttered or ever used in the dictionary

Etymology fallacy - is the worst sort of pedantry: a meaningless personal opinion trying to dress itself up as concern for preserving historical principles.

Sprachgefühl - an intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate, combines two German nouns, Sprache, meaning "language, speech," and Gefühl, meaning "feeling." (Nouns are capitalized in German

Anecdata - combination of an anecdote and refers to personal experiences or anecdotes that are treated like objectively collected and analyzed data

Conclusion - it is human nature to want to justify your own opinions by appealing to an external authority thus one tends to use the dictionary to bolster an opinion that was already held rather than confirming the objective meaning of the word. An appeal to the dictionary in scrabble or quiddler - has no merit in that the dictionary just describes what is not what should be in terms of the English language. So the appeal should be based on if the person can use it in a reasonable sentence where both parties understand the meaning – no, the acknowledgment of its existence is what it does - meaning has no merit.

“And unfortunately right thinking definitely does not lead to write usage and right usage is not a hallmark of right thinking as has been the case in times past. Or at least that's what marketing had let us to believe.”

If you like words and the history of words its a worthwhile read, not quite as compelling as The Professor and the Madman but worth the time.