Back in school, when I got bored, I’d take my copy of the Oxford dictionary and look up random words. You can always trust me to have a dictionary. I even influenced a few of my classmates to start referring to the dictionary.
Now though, I mostly use Google dictionary.
I read an article recently and it made me realize a lot of things about dictionaries. It was a long, but good read. The main reason I’m posting it here is because I couldn’t not talk about it.
I found it on the new Longreads series on WordPress. Regular WordPress followers would already know about this. And if you’ve come across other articles that you think I must read, please let me know.
“You’re probably using the wrong dictionary.” The title jumped out at me. I’m a great believer in compulsive titles, and I couldn’t resist. Even before I opened it, I knew it would be long. 1500+ words. I had my doubts. I was at work, could I manage it?
I decided I could. And I’m glad I did.
Read it if you can. If you’re a lover of the English language and literature, you will surely enjoy this article. And once you’re done, you might want to check out Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 and 1828 editions.
You’ll find a sense of the word that is somehow more evocative than any you’ve seen. “2. To convey as by a flash… as, to flash a message along the wires; to flash conviction on the mind.” In the juxtaposition of those two examples — a message transmitted by wires; a feeling that comes suddenly to mind — is a beautiful analogy, worth dwelling on, and savoring. Listen to that phrase: “to flash conviction on the mind.” This is in a dictionary, for God’s sake.
And, toward the bottom of the entry, as McPhee promised, is a usage note, explaining the fine differences in meaning between words in the penumbra of “flash”:
… Flashing differs from exploding or disploding in not being accompanied with a loud report. To glisten, or glister, is to shine with a soft and fitful luster, as eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew.
Did you see that last clause? “To shine with a soft and fitful luster, as eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew.” I’m not sure why you won’t find writing like that in dictionaries these days, but you won’t. Here is the modern equivalent of that sentence in the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster: “glisten applies to the soft sparkle from a wet or oily surface <glistening wet sidewalk>.”
Who decided that the American public couldn’t handle “a soft and fitful luster”? I can’t help but think something has been lost.
The Chaos Within 