The practice of complying dictionaries is lexicography. The perks of being a lexicographer is that you get to say fun words. The non-perks of being a lexicographer is that, in general, people don't like the dictionary. They think that only good words are supposed to be in the dictionary; however, Erin McKean does not want to restrict words. She doesn't want to exclude certain words. She blames the Queen for likening a lexicographer to a traffic cop- it is funny because English has not changed since her reign. Dictionaries are old-fashioned. Online dictionaries only improves the speed of a search. "Online dictionaries are paper thrown up on the screen."
It is not that their are good words or bad words, it's that something has been handed down for us to try and place words into categories. Words that are not in a dictionary are not bad words. Chances are that the dictionary is bad. "Paper is the enemy of words. The book is not the best shape for a dictionary." The English language is as big as it is, so it is hard to contain it in a small book. People should study all the words because people can make beautiful expressions from very small parts, so all words in the English language should be studied. "How do you know if a word is real? If you love a word, it becomes real." People should worry more about description than control over words.
"If you ask for help you get more done." In almost every book or newspaper, there is a word that is not in a dictionary. Lexicography is not rocket science. We don't know a lot of English and we don't even know that we are missing it. We should be able to find words. The internet is great for collecting words. "The internet is made up of words and enthusiasm." "A word is like an archeological artifact." "We can make the dictionary be the whole language." If we can put in all the words and not have a distinction between the "good" and "bad" words, the English language would be a better place.
"It is not that their are good words or bad words..." Should be "there" not "their."
ReplyDelete"In almost every book or newspaper, there is a word that is not in a dictionary." Comma splice.
"We don't know a lot of English and we don't even know that we are missing it." Awkward wording, maybe use "so" instead of "and."
"If we can put in all the words and not have a distinction between the "good" and "bad" words, the English language would be a better place." English couldn't really be a place, but I like what you're saying.
Otherwise I like your blog post, and I like your picture. I also like how many quotes you put in the post.