|k| clippings: 2015-01-16 — poems about everything

WORK

“We Are Not Responsible”

We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives. We cannot guarantee your safety if you disobey our instructions. We do not endorse the causes or claims of people begging for handouts. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Your ticket does not guarantee that we will honor your reservations. In order to facilitate our procedures, please limit your carrying on. Before taking off, please extinguish all smoldering resentments. If you cannot understand English, you will be moved out of the way. In the event of a loss, you’d better look out for yourself. Your insurance was cancelled because we can no longer handle your frightful claims. Our handlers lost your luggage and we are unable to find the key to your legal case. You were detained for interrogation because you fit the profile. You are not presumed to be innocent if the police have reason to suspect you are carrying a concealed wallet. It’s not our fault you were born wearing a gang color. It is not our obligation to inform you of your rights. Step aside, please, while our officer inspects your bad attitude. You have no rights that we are bound to respect. Please remain calm, or we can’t be held responsible for what happens to you.

—Harryette Mullen
—from Sleeping with the Dictionary

WORD(S)

lexicophile. noun. A lover and/or collector of words, dictionaries, and related reference works. From Greek lexis (word) + philos (loving).

“There is no word for a lover of dictionaries, so perhaps we might offer a barbarous neologism: ‘lexicophile’, a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the significance of dictionaries.” (Philip French)

“The curious lexicophile follows the signs, hoping to enjoy a park or open space of some kind.” (Weasel Words)

“Leskov was a born lexicophile, a thing rare in the Russian 19th century. He amassed notebooks of word specimens with the acquisitive mania that drives other men to gather shells, stones, and stamps…” (Herbert David Croly)

WEB

1. A fantastic article from Slate on the evolution and ongoing remaking of the dictionary in the digital age, the all-digital—and long awaited—Merriam-Webster 4th Edition, a look behind the scenes at Merriam-Webster and much more. Plan to spend a while on the article and the plethora of links sure to be of interest to the Clamor. Bonus: The Takeaway takes on the story too.

2. Erin McKean, editor of the New Oxford American Dictionary and Verbatim, lexicographer, creator of Wordnik has two delightful TED Talks: “The Joy of Lexicography” and “Go Ahead, Make Up New Words”. H/T for simultaneous discovery to Reader B.

3. If any of the above sizzles your bacon, you’ll probably enjoy the World in Words podcast/radio show. Of note for this issue, two episodes involving the Oxford English Dictionary, including the evolution of the OED—including “muffin-tops”—and the OED’s Quixotic quest to be “authoritative.”.

4. And what’s a day devoted to the dictionary without some well-written handwringing: “Prescriptivists vs. Descriptivists: The Fifth Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary”.

5. Today in 1964, Hello Dolly! opens on Broadway for the first of 2,844 performances. The titular role was played by Carol Channing for most of that run, winning 10 Tony awards in the first year. Later, Channing was succeeded by, among others: Ginger Rogers, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey (in an all-black version with Cab Calloway), and Ethel Merman…who had refused the lead role at the start. Sally Struthers does a surprisingly good job as Dolly in a recent production, but my heart belongs to the classic Louis Armstrong song.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader G. spots an irony: “Chris, isn’t it funny that someone [Edward Bulwer-Lytton] whose writing was so florid that a ”bad writing“ contest is named after him also coined this wonderful saying [the pen is mightier than the sword]?”

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