Reading About Reading a Dictionary
I love me some Oxford English Dictionary.
It's a constant source of enjoyment and humility. If there's ever a disagreement about the meaning of a word, not only does it settle the argument, but it also shows when and how the word was first used and if the word has changed since its inception.
Plus, it comes with a huge magnifying glass.That's why when I saw "Reading the OED," one man's year long journey of reading the OED cover to cover (to cover to cover, etc.), I had to read it.
The guy loves words. So much so that he enjoys reading dictionaries. I can't blame him. Websters is probably more fulfilling than the latest Grisham novel.
It seems the root of this love affair with the English language is that there must be a word that describes everything. And there is. You just have to read a whole dictionary to find it. For example...
acnestis - On an animal, the point of the back that lies between the shoulders and the lower back, which cannot be reached to be scratched.
So he's read the OED and written about his coffee-laden feat and highlighted some of his favorite words he found within the great tome.
I just hope he ran across that word for those plastic things at end of shoelaces.
4 Comments:
;)
What an adventure that'd be!
ag⋅let
/ˈæglɪt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ag-lit] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a metal tag or sheath at the end of a lace used for tying, as of a shoelace.
2. (in the 16th and 17th centuries) an ornament at the end of a point or other ribbon used to secure a garment.
3. aiguillette (def. 1).
Also, aiglet.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < MF aiguillette, equiv. to aiguille needle (see aiguille ) + -ette -et
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aglet
I haven't yet come across an English word that covers the meaning of the German word "Schadenfreude."
The acnestis is the reason Barley rolls around on the floor and makes strange sounds?
Nat - Thank you! Integrating into my vocabulary...now.
Keith - He has misdelight, which means "pleasure in something wrong." But in the same section he mentions one of his personal favorites that is NOT in the OED. "Epicharicacy, which means the same thing as schadenfreude, and was in English dictionaries until the early nineteenth century."
Btw, the OED includes schadenfreude.
Dwight - Possibly, or Barley learned it by watching you.
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