Worry not
lexicographers … it’s all in how you say it!
Do
you wonder why certain words lose popular favor and fall into the “Archaic”
category?
Language is mutable and
transient by decades, fads, cultures, and eras. Sigh. Nothing ever stays the
same. So, what’s changed in your vocabulary?
 |
|
You're
not thinking fourth dimensionally!
|
Is
today’s language making you long for a back to the future trip? There’s a word
for that …
Ah,
don’t CARK your pretty little head
about it … yep, this week’s word is rarely used. Even dear ol’ Webster calls it
archaic.
Why
do archaic words continue to hang out in current dictionaries, taking up space?
Good question – Mr. Webster, are you reading this?
For
obvious reasons, Noah Webster
is one of my heroes. Not only was he the epitome of lexicographers, but he
was considered a fringe Founding Father of the United States. (Appropriate for one of this month’s Wordplay Wednesday
entries, right?)
A teacher following the American Revolution, Webster
abhorred how outdated the school system had become. Children still read
primers from England, with books’ text “… often pledging their allegiance to King
George. Webster believed that Americans should learn from American books, so in
1783, he wrote his own textbook: A Grammatical Institute of the English
Language.” Do you know it by its nickname? ...
