Very fun article (on a book now on my wish list) about the Websters Second (1934) and Websters Third (1961) dictionaries, and how they epitomized the prescriptive vs descriptive schools of dictionary writing.
Having found myself in rather vehement arguments about this lately, it was … amusing. Especially the "continuing the cycle of abuse" argument.
The Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published
David Skinner’s wonderful book, The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published, arrives in paperback tomorrow. The following transcript is adapted from an interview with Skinner on an episode of the Lexicon Valley podcast. MIKE VUOLO: The Story of Ain’t is about a dictionary…
Remember when Nero Wolfe burned a copy of Webster's Third? ("Do you use 'infer' and 'imply' interchangeably?…This book says you may.") Archie called Wolfe on it when Wolfe insisted that he had not bought it for that express purpose. Archie pointed out that Wolfe would have purchased the leather-bound edition if he had planned to keep it.
Ah, yes. I've used Wolfe as an example of this before. Well-recalled, +Scott Randel .