A note on the dictionary...

[conuly]

The dictionary, as we all know, is a list of words and their meanings. It often also includes such cool things as the etymology. Oh, how I love the dictionary!

I'm not sure how exactly lexographers work their magic - perhaps they accost people in the street and force them to use various words in sentences - but they do, keeping the sacred trust of listing how a word is used.

That means they include words like "fuck" and "ain't", and words that no sane person uses, like "uxoricide" and "defenestrate". (I use those words all the time, and I'm sure many of you are about to pipe up and claim you do as well. Don't bother, I know you're all nuts.)

However, here's a pesky thing about lexographers. Despite what some people think, they don't tell you how a word should be used, just how it is used. Often, you'll find a word with multiple definitions. Strange as it is, not everyone uses every definition. Maybe it's a regional thing - I know that the words "fanny" and "fag" have several definitions each, and people who use one definition for those words don't use the other, though both definitions may be listed in a comprehensive dictionary.

That is why I laugh at those who think "I go by what the dictionary says" is a good argument. It's not. It's like that Norman Rockwell painting, with the man who sets the clock tower using his pocketwatch. The dictionary goes by what the people say, and the people often disagree - violently, I think - on how words should be used.

So when I had that long argument with somebody over whether a "schmatte" was a rag or a headcovering, and whether a "babuska" was a headcovering or only your loving granny - neither of us was wrong. It was a classic example of linguistic drift, and the definition of both words depends on which city you're in. And when you say that a beach is any sandy area by water, and I say that no, it's only the sandy area by salt water - neither of us is wrong. If you're unfortunate enough to live in the middle of the country, a beach is either, but here in civilisation the coast, if you use "beach" to mean "lakeside", you'll only confuse people. You can point to your holy dictionary all you want, but it won't help you. Would that it were so simple to get people to change their speech for ones own convenience! I'd have everyone using thee!

Comments

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Etymology was a favorite class of mine. I took it in 8th grade. I always found word roots fascinating.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Once again, your rants delight me.

Thanks for saying everything I wish I could. <3

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- on my coast, "beach" refers to either an oceanside *or* a lakeside. (Our lakesides are much more sandy than our oceanside regions, though, which might be part of it.)

[conuly]

It's the decline of civilization as I know it. O tempora. O mores.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

I know someone who uses the word Defenestrate.

...just because it's that cool of a word.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

It IS that cool of a word.

[appadil.livejournal.com]

At my middle school, the windows were low enough to the ground that I was able to defenestrate someone's textbook to them so they could make it to class on time. I think someone may actually have wriggled out through one of the windows once, but I wasn't there to see it, so I can't really vouch for the accuracy of that.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Actually, I know someone (my brother, actually) who self-defenestrated as a project for a sociology class. From a 'first floor' window (i.e. one story off the ground).

No, the teacher didn't say to jump out a window. That was my brother's own addition to a somewhat open-ended assignment. And while I was not present at the time, I'm sure he did it – it was totally in character.

[rachelkachel]

I'm not sure how exactly lexographers work their magic - perhaps they accost people in the street and force them to use various words in sentences - but they do, keeping the sacred trust of listing how a word is used.

I had to read that part to my dad, who loved it. I think I'll metaquote it if you don't mind. :)

[conuly]

I never mind.

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

I see your point here, but at the same time, I often get into little tiffs where people are saying things in a certain way, where what they say doesn't match up with the definition of the word. (The only time I can think of this happening is with medical definitions: pregnancy and [menstrual] period come to mind.)

So when people call hormonal birth control an abortifacient, this is incorrect, because medically, pregnancy begins at implantation. And HBC works pre-implantation. Same for emergency contraception.

[conuly]

Political and scientific talk goes in a separate category.

[maelorin]

i caused momentary mayhem for a lecturer when it turned out that someone (myself) knew what defenestrate meant. he oft used joke died. badly.

still, criminal law offers a menagerie of opportunities for a come back.

idioms and idiots abound across the landscape of our language(s). english is not so much a language, as a family - in all the glory that metaphore can conjure.

[aussies snigger whenever americans talk about fannies. especially fanny-packs.]

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

What was the joke?

[maelorin]

i never got to hear it. i heard about it. and it was many years ago now.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Awwww.

[maelorin]

it related to a criminal case - an old one - and the remarks of the english judge (lord denning) hearing it on appeal. i've read the case, but didn't see what was funny. i suspect it's all in how he told it.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Don't forget ejaculate. People have have given me very funny looks for using that one in ways they're unfamiliar with.

[maelorin]

i can just imagine.

[words are fun]

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I'm an actual lexicographer, who was referred to metaquotes by someone who knows me. :) I'd just like to say, well, "Word."

It's only descriptivist lexicographers who record actual usage - prescriptivists, of which American Heritage is one, DO tell you how you "should" speak - but otherwise this was 100% accurate. Might I also add, it's really refreshing to see someone(s) who has some idea of what it is we do; I get very tired of having people assume we have a Magic Word Wand (tm) that will either create or banish words at whim.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

(oh, I forgot to add, the "magic" is worked by us keeping track of word usage in various publications. We read all sorts of things, from newspapers to magazines to books to, yes, the internet, and record any and all examples of interesting usage we find. Eventually, those are typed up and collected into our files/database, which we consult when it's time to decide "what a word means.")

[maelorin]

could have been my perfect job :)

in the great lottery, i received 'lawyer' instead.

sometimes it's not so different :)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

No, it's not, really! :)

If you ever do decide to switch careers.... it's a fun job.

[maelorin]

i'm considering it.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Etymology was a favorite class of mine. I took it in 8th grade. I always found word roots fascinating.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Once again, your rants delight me.

Thanks for saying everything I wish I could. <3

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- on my coast, "beach" refers to either an oceanside *or* a lakeside. (Our lakesides are much more sandy than our oceanside regions, though, which might be part of it.)

[conuly]

It's the decline of civilization as I know it. O tempora. O mores.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

I know someone who uses the word Defenestrate.

...just because it's that cool of a word.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

It IS that cool of a word.

[appadil.livejournal.com]

At my middle school, the windows were low enough to the ground that I was able to defenestrate someone's textbook to them so they could make it to class on time. I think someone may actually have wriggled out through one of the windows once, but I wasn't there to see it, so I can't really vouch for the accuracy of that.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Actually, I know someone (my brother, actually) who self-defenestrated as a project for a sociology class. From a 'first floor' window (i.e. one story off the ground).

No, the teacher didn't say to jump out a window. That was my brother's own addition to a somewhat open-ended assignment. And while I was not present at the time, I'm sure he did it – it was totally in character.

[rachelkachel]

I'm not sure how exactly lexographers work their magic - perhaps they accost people in the street and force them to use various words in sentences - but they do, keeping the sacred trust of listing how a word is used.

I had to read that part to my dad, who loved it. I think I'll metaquote it if you don't mind. :)

[conuly]

I never mind.

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

I see your point here, but at the same time, I often get into little tiffs where people are saying things in a certain way, where what they say doesn't match up with the definition of the word. (The only time I can think of this happening is with medical definitions: pregnancy and [menstrual] period come to mind.)

So when people call hormonal birth control an abortifacient, this is incorrect, because medically, pregnancy begins at implantation. And HBC works pre-implantation. Same for emergency contraception.

[conuly]

Political and scientific talk goes in a separate category.

[maelorin]

i caused momentary mayhem for a lecturer when it turned out that someone (myself) knew what defenestrate meant. he oft used joke died. badly.

still, criminal law offers a menagerie of opportunities for a come back.

idioms and idiots abound across the landscape of our language(s). english is not so much a language, as a family - in all the glory that metaphore can conjure.

[aussies snigger whenever americans talk about fannies. especially fanny-packs.]

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

What was the joke?

[maelorin]

i never got to hear it. i heard about it. and it was many years ago now.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Awwww.

[maelorin]

it related to a criminal case - an old one - and the remarks of the english judge (lord denning) hearing it on appeal. i've read the case, but didn't see what was funny. i suspect it's all in how he told it.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Don't forget ejaculate. People have have given me very funny looks for using that one in ways they're unfamiliar with.

[maelorin]

i can just imagine.

[words are fun]

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I'm an actual lexicographer, who was referred to metaquotes by someone who knows me. :) I'd just like to say, well, "Word."

It's only descriptivist lexicographers who record actual usage - prescriptivists, of which American Heritage is one, DO tell you how you "should" speak - but otherwise this was 100% accurate. Might I also add, it's really refreshing to see someone(s) who has some idea of what it is we do; I get very tired of having people assume we have a Magic Word Wand (tm) that will either create or banish words at whim.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

(oh, I forgot to add, the "magic" is worked by us keeping track of word usage in various publications. We read all sorts of things, from newspapers to magazines to books to, yes, the internet, and record any and all examples of interesting usage we find. Eventually, those are typed up and collected into our files/database, which we consult when it's time to decide "what a word means.")

[maelorin]

could have been my perfect job :)

in the great lottery, i received 'lawyer' instead.

sometimes it's not so different :)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

No, it's not, really! :)

If you ever do decide to switch careers.... it's a fun job.

[maelorin]

i'm considering it.