Lesson Eleven But What’s Dictionary For?

by Bergen Evans

Ⅰ. Background Information 1. Source note This text is excerpted from an article of the same title in the book The Play of

Language. Actually the article first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in May, 1962. Little is known of the writer Bergen Evans.

The Play of Language is a collection of essays on language and usage edited by Leonard F. Dean and Kenneth G. Wilson, published in 1963 by Oxford University Press in the United States of America.

2. About Webster’s and the G. & C. Merriam Company Webster’s Third new International Dictionary has its beginning in Noah

Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828. On Webster’s death in 1843 the unsold copies and publishing rights of his dictionary were acquired by George and Charles Merriam, who in 1847 brought out a revision edited by Noah Webster’s son-in-law, Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich of Yale College. The 1847 edition became the first Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary. Other reference works from Merriam-Webster’s New Geographical Dictionary, Webster’s Biographical Dictionary and Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms.

3. The Third International In content, size, shape, and design, this dictionary of 2,752 pages is the

great library of the English language. It has over 460,000 entries, 200,000 usage examples, over 3,000 a single volume it defines the English language as it is written and spoken today.

This unabridged Merriam-Webster involved enormous work and money. It is the product of over 200 permanent staff of language experts who specialize in dictionary making, together with a hundred special outside consultants. 27 years and $3.5 million were spent on the preparation and making of this dictionary. A total of 10 million citations were collected as background for definition. The dictionary came out in 1961.

The editors of this new edition have held to the three virtues of dictionary making: accuracy, clearness, and comprehensiveness. Wherever there is conflict, accuracy is put definitions as readable as possible. The comprehensiveness of this dictionary is borne out by the addition of 100,000 new words or new definitions that were not included in the Second International.

Ⅱ. Questions after the detailed study of the text.

1.  What critical views did the popular press express on the publication of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary

2.   How much effort and money was spent on the making of this dictionary?

3.   Why are new dictionaries needed?

4.   What does the writer say about spelling and pronunciation?

5.   Has the Third New International Dictionary any faults?

Ⅲ. Analysis and Appreciation of the text

1. The outline of the text

2. Type of literature: exposition

Ⅳ.Special difficulties in the text

1.  identifying figures of speech

2.  translating some sentences

3.  paraphrasing some sentences

4.  outline requirements

Ⅴ . Rhetorical Devices

1.  metonymy

2.  synecdoche

3.  sarcasm

4.  alliteration

Ⅵ . Detailed study of the text

1. abuse: unkind, rude or offensive words; cursing, angry, or violent attacks in words; eg. shower abuse on sb.; vicious personal abuse; hurl ~ at sb.; heap ~ on sb.; ~s of the age (unjust, harmful custom)

2. popular press: newspapers suited to the general readers. Popular means suited to the tastes, needs, educational level, etc. of the general public, e.g. popular science, meals at popular prices. popular hero, popular songs, etc. (liked and admired by the public)

3. appearance: act of appearing, here, it means publication, coming out compare the following pairs of sentences: 1). The appearance of the miracle chip had a great impact on science and technology. The boy has an appearance of being half starved. 2). the Russian invasion of Afghanistan posed a grave threat to the free movement of

Middle East oil. The boss saw an unprecedented upsurge of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. 3). The meeting between Mr. Hill and his family was a joyful one. They decided to cancel the meeting.

4. scholarly: concerned with serious detailed study

5. stature: quality position gained by development; a person’s natural height or elevation

cf. status: the relative degree of respect that sb. is given by society in general or that sb. attains by virtue of his accomplishment; refer to all the indefinable qualities that make up social or professional success

6. unbridled: unrestrained, not controlled, too active, or violent

7. bridle: bring under control, hold back

8. calamity: catastrophe, terrible event, serious misfortune scandal: a state or action offending people’s ideas of what is right or proper

9. editorial: an article in a newspaper giving an opinion on some question of the day

10. accelerate: hasten, speed up

11. deterioration: process of deteriorating or becoming worse

12. stern: harsh and bitter, hard to bear

13. betray the trust of the public: fail to meet the hopes or expectations of public

14. deplorable: regrettable; that can be deplored; deplore: often suggest a feeling of righteous indignation; refer to disapproval that is th

oroughgoing and is called up by some affront to decency, taste, propriety, morality; eg. to ~ the book’s bad writing

15. flagrant: open, shameless

16. lexicography: the act, process, art, work of compiling a dictionary cf. lexicology

17. irresponsible: unable to behave carefully or think of the effect of actions on others

18. cause: a movement or undertaking strongly supported or defended

19. non-word: words not yet established or received as standard; newly coined words not acceptable;

20. deluge: great flood; overwhelming flood-like rush of anything; derived from the Latin word for flood, specifically it applies to the rain of 40 days and nights in the time of Noah—a cataclysm called Deluge or Flood; it stresses the idea of unremitting downpour, in a figurative sense, it refers to a profuse or incessant stream

21. monstrous: quite absurd; horrible, shocking

22. abominable: detestable; causing great dislike or disgust; arousing abomination

23. dismay: strong feeling of fear, hopelessness, anxiety

24. model herself on her mother: imitate her mother in behavior or practice

25. throw / cast / shed light on: explain; make plain, account for this comment fails to explain how true writers, like Lincoln, wrote their articles, but it tells us how the editors of Life composed their articles—they followed the regulations recorded in the dictionary as an example or rule. In the author’s opinion, that approach will not be adopted by the true writers.

26. sound and fury: the abuse found in popular press; (allusion)

27. fury: stronger than anger or rage, suggest a rage so violent that it may approach madness

28. citation: quotation, passage quoted or cited

29. fraud: criminal deception

30. hoax: mischievous trick which makes sb. believe sth. false

31. discrepancy: disagreement, difference, gap

32. principle: guideline

33. What should the purchaser expect to get in return for the money he pays?

34. interpose: insert; introduce into conversation; put in as an interruption

35. flyleaf: a page at the beginning or end of a book, fastened to the cover, on which there’s usu. no printing

36. home remedies: medicine often kept in household for common illness

37. extraneous: not essential, irrelevant, not properly belonging to sth.; ~ to sth.

38. touted: highly praised or recommended

39. clout: attack, strike

40. buggy: light carriage pulled by one horse

41. edition: the total number of copies of a book printed from the same plates and published at about the same time

42. descriptive linguistics: a branch of linguistics that describes structure of a language as it exists without reference to its history or to the comparison with other languages

43. get its charter from sth.: take sth as its authority

44. charter: a written or printed statement of specified rights to a person or corporation from a government or ruler

45. philology: study of written records, esp. literary texts, to determine their authenticity, meaning, etc., (the early form of linguistics)

46. inseminating scholar: a scholar who implants new ideas in people’s mind, who introduces new ways of thinking to people

47. relegate: assign to a class, realm; classify as belonging to a certain order of things; ~ sth. / sb. to…

48. Bloomfield is an interdisciplinary scholar, i.e. his study sheds light on several fields and cannot be confined to a specific department. He will not readily reconcile himself to any convention simply because it is commonly accepted by the public.

49. anthropologist: a specialist in the study of man, esp. of the variety, physical or cultural characteristics, distribution, customs, etc. of mankind

50. as much…as: as well as

51. convention: customary practice, rule or method

52. set down: record, put down

53. Any individual living language is different from others and has some features peculiar to itself, which keep changing with the passing of time, therefore it cannot be analyzed or described in the same pattern as we do other languages or even as we describe its own past stage. Different phases of different languages deserve different perspectives, approaches or different frames of reference. There’s hardly any rule that applies to all languages or all stages of the same language.

54. theoretical, ideal language: a simplified, purified form of language, which excludes many usages from the consideration, as that involved in teaching or grammatical books

55. dynamic: in a process of constant change; full of vigor or activity

56. static: lacking effect of action or movement, not changing

57. statement: generalization, indication, representation

58. contemporary: current

59. rest on: rely on, be based on, be supported by or determined by

60. usage: customary or habitual use

61. relative: not fixed or absolute

62. proposition: assertion, statement

63. insofar as: to the extent / degree that

64. comprehensive: thorough, broad in range; all-inclusive

65. Descriptive linguistics is to present an exact description of the contemporary habitual practices of a given language, which is a dynamic system of unique structures. That requirement applies to a dictionary as well.

66. indication of…associations: sth. that demonstrates the social or regional relationships, labels such as slang or dialect

67. New dictionaries are needed to cover the changes that took place in English in the past sixty years.

68. adapt to…: adjust / adapt oneself to new / changed circumstances

69. unparalleled: unmatched; that has no equal or parallel in the past

70. unprecedented: having no precedent, unheard-of, never having happened before

71. movement: migration

72. pervasive: spreading everywhere or through every part, widespread utilitarian: characterized by usefulness, concerned with practical use, not made for inte

rest

73. purist: a person who insists on precise usage or on application of formal, often pedantic rules, esp. in language

74. unbuttoned: relaxed, informal, unrestrained, uncontrolled

75. gibberish: rapid incoherent talk, unintelligible nonsense

76. Not that…are: in fact they are not pages of unbuttoned gibberish.

77. hold up: present, show as an example

78. mustn’t: close to and stronger than shouldn’t (should has something to do with the responsibility)

79. issue: sth produced to be publicly sold at regular intervals

80. editorially: in the form of editorial

81. hail as: recognize or describe as; acclaim

82. scandal: shame, disgrace, humiliation

83. reject: refuse to accept or use, throw away as useless

84. condemn: express strong disapproval of; declare officially unfit for use

85. caption: name; entitle

86. hang on to it: keep hold of it

Ⅶ. Assignment

Write an outline of the text.