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National Dictionary Day 2024
Today is National Dictionary Day. This was one of my favorite books while I was growing up, and it definitely gives me a leg up when I play Scrabble with Kelly.
A Poem About Everything
I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything. ~Steven Wright
I admired anyone with an expanded vocabulary back in the day.
There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a new word or phrase that encapsulates a concept or an image succinctly.
I particularly enjoyed Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. He always had a new insult for the robot and any aliens they came across.
Sadly, the trend has been toward abbreviating everything or reassigning terms for no discernible reason or simply making up nonsense gibberish like yeet or rizz.
People would rather acronym or monosyllablize an otherwise good expression.
Granted, collapsing language makes it easier for texting, but life is more than texting.
Be bold. Be expressive. Be polysyllabic. Use your words.
Every Single Word
Blackadder Johnson’s Dictionary
Dr. Johnson was not the first to create an English dictionary or a dictionary of any kind.
Apparently, the concept of a dictionary dates all the way back to Sumerian times.
Fair enough, but then again, accounting also goes that far back.
How could you teach Babylonian, Egyptian, Athenian or Roman children without some sort of lexicon?
What’s life without a dictionary?
Sad.
Make sure you have a decent dictionary. It will make you feel better.
In The Dictionary
Always remember that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Another little gem from my younger days is “Ain’t ain’t a word, cuz it ain’t in the dictionary.”
Well, it always was and still is. Commonly held beliefs are sometimes illusory.
Some of that is what’s known as The Mandela Effect, in which commonly held memories are widely misremembered.
Some of that can be attributed to Joseph Goebbels’ claim that “a lie told often enough will become the truth”.
We’re all about the consensus these days. 🤢🤮 That’s fine for friends deciding which movie to see, but it should not supersede the Scientific Method.
Recognizing bullshit for what it is should be lauded, not “fact checked”.
We should not celebrate falsehood unless it’s fiction.
Fiction is technically bullshit. It is made up. It is artificial. It is fake.
It is the Emperor’s Clothes draped over an underlying truth.
Well, sometimes. Sometimes it’s just fun for fun’s sake.
Either way, the great thing about fiction is that it is deliberately false.
We see a lot of nonsense passed off as factual, but there’s something honestly untrue about fiction.
That’s weird isn’t it?
Well, is it any wonder I’m all about the fiction?
It’s weird. It is my happy place.
In the dictionary under Hump 🐫 Day, you’ll find a picture of today. Since it’s down in ink, it’s time to call it a day. I wish you a lovely remainder of the week.