{"id":39380,"date":"2013-10-28T10:34:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T16:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/28\/word-2.html"},"modified":"2013-10-29T07:52:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T13:52:34","slug":"word-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/28\/word-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Word!"},"content":{"rendered":"
+<\/span>George Wiman<\/a><\/span>\u00a0says: 'Most fundamentalist videos I have ever seen, at some point, elevate the phrase "Now, the DICTIONARY defines [word] as…" \u00a0I think they place the dictionary right next to the bible somehow. A dictionary is a good starting place when you have no idea what a word means, but it is not a good basis for arguing about topics.'<\/i><\/p>\n

Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Worse, treating the dictionary as holy scrip handed down from some divine lexicological mount completely misses the point of words.<\/i> \u00a0They are a consensual convention\u00a0on some sounds to mean some stuff. \u00a0They change<\/i> over time, as well as acreting new meanings. \u00a0What "nice" means today is different from what "nice" meant two hundred years ago. \u00a0And even where changes are more subtle than significant, they're still a matter of what people agree to.<\/p>\n

That's not bad or good, or moral or immoral. \u00a0It just is.<\/i> \u00a0Words are, in that way, the equivalent of clothes and fashion, both there to serve some practical purposes and to convey meanings, but changing over time and place in material and in custom.<\/p>\n

It's important in discussions about thorny issues — such as religion — to check on the shared meaning of words — "End Times" or "sin" may mean very different things to two people, and beyond a surface definition these are word about which entire books<\/i> have been written. \u00a0But while a dictionary is useful to get a first pass on words, how they are (at a high level) used today, and their origins — that's about it.<\/p>\n

Using a dictionary is like leaning over a friend at a party and saying, "Who's she?" about a woman across the room. "Oh, that's Bob's girlfriend," you get told. \u00a0So, yeah, now you know something, and something very useful, and if you refer to "Bob's girlfriend" later in the evening, people will know who you are talking about. — but obviously there a ton more to that person. \u00a0How they met. What their favorite pastime is. \u00a0Whether she's cheating on him, or vice-versa, or have an open relationship. Plus your friend may not know that she's much more famous in other circles as a brain surgeon. \u00a0And in six months "Bob's girlfriend" may refer to someone else altogether.<\/p>\n

Words — referents — are like that. Life goes on. They're useful, invaluable, but they're not cosmic verities. They're incomplete, malleable, and suited for endless argument.<\/p>\n

Don't get me wrong — I love dictionaries. \u00a0Love 'em. \u00a0And I can be as pedantic as the next guy (or moreso) in pointing out an incorrect usage of a word, per the current dictionary. \u00a0But that's trying to establish common communication, not using the dictionary as Law, Civil or Holy.<\/p>\n

A dictionary is a great start, and invaluable for that, but that's all. \u00a0Treating it as the be-all, end-all for understanding a word, let alone something that expresses the one, true, eternal, God-dictated, Platonic-idea meaning of a word is a comforting delusion for folks who want to use words as clubs.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Andreas Geisler<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I don't mean to be a dic about it or anything, but here goes:<\/p>\n

Dictionaries are ONLY for the ignorant.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, don't get me wrong: We're all ignorant about some things, and the dictionary is useful for starting to learn about things we are ignorant about, but NO dictionary is meant to replace encyclopedias, textbooks and monographs. The dictionary definition is like the plastic three-wheeler without the pedals. It is not the real bike. It's not even the real bike with training wheels. It's a gourd-damned walking tool shaped somewhat like a bike.<\/p>\n

Get the real bike. Don't demand that people with real bikes use your toddler tools.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

+George Wiman\u00a0says: 'Most fundamentalist videos I have ever seen, at some point, elevate the phrase "Now, the DICTIONARY defines [word] as…" \u00a0I think they place the dictionary right next to the bible somehow. A dictionary is a good starting place when you have no idea what a word means, but it is not a good … Continue reading “Word!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,110,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-religious-zanies","category-writing-and-language"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11185,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/21\/nice_dictionary_you_got_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":0},"title":"Nice dictionary you got there — be a shame if somethin’ were to happen to it","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Mar-07 6:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"McDonald's has a problem with the Oxford English Dictionary. McDonald's Corp. on Tuesday restarted its push to get the word \"McJob\" removed from dictionaries -- and has set its sights...","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14260,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/todays-lesson-on-the-meaning-of-the-word-dictionary.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":1},"title":"Today’s lesson on the meaning of the word “dictionary”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 19-Mar-09 5:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"A proper dictionary is descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, it reflects usage, not some editor's idea of what is right, proper, virtuous, or politically correct. If people start using \"less\" when they should be using \"fewer,\" for example, then over time that meaning of \"less\" will start showing up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8845,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/04\/07\/your_lexical_le.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":2},"title":"Your lexical lesson for today","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Apr-06 9:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"I had no idea that \"scumbag\" originally meant \"condom\" (though it makes sense in retrospect), nor that the NY Times has had a long sensitivity to the term and that...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11833,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/24\/womblety_cropt.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":3},"title":"“Womblety-cropt”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Jan-08 9:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"From Jeffrey Kacirk's \"Forgotten English\" calendar this year: The indisposition of a drunkard after a debauch. -- James Hallwell, Dictionary of Archaic and Provicial Words (1855) What a wonderful word.\u00a0\u00a0...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15185,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/12\/four-hundred-dollars-huh.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":4},"title":"Four hundred dollars, huh?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 12-Jul-09 9:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oxford English Thesaurus? More properly, The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. \u00b7 The largest thesaurus resource in the world, covering more than 920,000 words and meanings based on the Oxford English Dictionary \u00b7 The very first historical thesaurus to be compiled for any of the world's languages\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9442,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/06\/new_words_for_o.html","url_meta":{"origin":39380,"position":5},"title":"New words for old!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Jul-06 9:08am","format":false,"excerpt":"Merriam-Webster's 11th Ed. Collegiate Dictionary has its new word list out.\u00a0 Some of the highlights: Technology and Computers: mouse potato, ringtone, spyware Science and Medicine:\u00a0 avian influenza, biodiesel, gastric bypass...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39394,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39380\/revisions\/39394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}