Language

My brother and I were stumped. We couldn’t figure out what it was. It wasn’t that big, maybe 2 inches by 7 by 10, but it was quite heavy. On being shaken, it did not give any clues, other than that it was rock solid. I don’t recall Aunt Dottie previously sending presents ahead of time, but that Christmas in 1953 her present somehow showed up a few days early. I can’t speak for Larry, but I think this was the only time I snuck a peek at a Christmas present ahead of time.

Fingering through the seam of the wrapping paper only added to the mystery, revealing a finely pebbled burgundy surface so dark it looked black to me. Still not able to guess, we had to open the wrapping paper even more to get to the 2 inch edge, which is when we realized that it was exactly what I had asked for - a dictionary. It was the 1953 “Thin Paper Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary”. I was 12 years old at the time and discovering new aspects of girls in the seventh grade. My brother was 15 and in transition from his childhood nickname of Butch as part of being a sophomore at O’Dea.

I am not sure why I love words so much. We hardly had any books around the house growing up. Mom had to drop out of school after the seventh grade, to work and help support the family, but she seemed as literate as any high school graduate. Our despised stepfather had even less schooling and it definitely showed. The Catholic schools we attended were inner city and the students were from lower middle class working families. Our grade school did not even have a library until my last few years of attendance. The one field trip we took to a public library was my only visit, until I was in college.

While arguments can be made that I was drawn to words because of nurture by the nuns or as a reaction to our illiterate stepfather, I am confident that love of words comes naturally to me. The power of words is ironically underestimated in the childhood retort about sticks and stones. Names do hurt, as every victim of verbal abuse can attest. Name calling historically has not been limited to children. Political leaders of today still use names to degrade those with whom they disagree and to inflame animosity in order to hold onto power. George W. Bush is a glaring example, always talking about evil, brutal, dictatorial and tyrannical regimes. The far right has no valid ideas to offer, so instead they have worked for years to frame a false picture of America and to attack people with progressive ideas, using words and phrases in lieu of sticks and stones.

Though I spend a fair amount of time at the computer, I don’t use an electronic dictionary. In my office I use the burgundy book inscribed, “Tommy and Larry from Aunt Dottie”. In the living room, on an antique book stand, I use a huge dictionary I bought at a thrift store years ago, because it reminded me of the one they had at my grade school - the one that impressed me because you could find every word in it, except for the words you would not say in front of your mother. The “Webster’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language”, dated 1939, is fun because it contains “contemporary” (pre-World War II) examples in connection with some of the definitions. After the latest Bush speech to bolster support for the quagmire in Iraq, I looked up “dictator”, which four years of Latin at O’Dea taught came from the Latin word for “speak”, as does the word “dictionary”. The second definition was, “One invested with absolute authority, often for the time being only or during an emergency; as President Castro was declared dictator of Venezuela”.

The Webster people add new words to their dictionary every year, based on sufficient usage by the public. Here is a list of some of the words added in 2005. New senses in which words are used are also added by Webster. The way senses of a word change over time is often precipitated by manipulation of language, done by individuals who have access to the public ear. Creative language manipulation by poets and others for artistic impact is deservedly celebrated. Whether to celebrate language manipulation by demagogues seems to depend on the extent to which one agrees with the political goal being sought by the manipulator.

In an 1881 weekly newspaper Ambrose Bierce started writing what would become “The Devil’s Dictionary”, with satirical definitions such as this one for the word “dictionary”: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary [Bierce’s, which is now free on line], however, is a most useful work.” Perusing my copy of this book always brings sly chuckles.

My “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” [an early edition is free on line] tells me Samuel Johnson wrote in the 18th Century that, “Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.” I guess I agree with old Sam, about dictionaries, but not about watches - I don’t wear one. Nevertheless, I know it is time to end this post.