Long Live Dissatisafaction – the mother of invention !

We learn from Wikipedia  that “ There was dissatisfaction with the dictionaries of the period, so in June 1746 a group of London booksellers contracted  Dr Samuel Johnson to write a dictionary for the sum of 1,500 guineas, equivalent to about £220,000 as of 2009. 

Published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, sometimes published as Johnson's Dictionary, is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language. Johnson took nearly nine years to complete the work, although he had claimed he could finish it in three. Remarkably, he did so single-handedly, with only clerical assistance to copy out the illustrative quotations that he had marked in books. Johnson produced several revised editions during his life.”

Even Johnson's dictionary was not the first English dictionary, nor even among the first dozen. Over the previous 150 years more than twenty dictionaries had been published in England, the oldest of these being a Latin-English "wordbook" by Sir Thomas Elyot published in 1538.

The key word is ‘dissatisfaction”…. and it has continued to survive and inspire people to keep bringing out newer and newer dictionaries.

I must mention here two very novel dictionaries , which  were created  to simplify the life of readers:

FIRST  is a series of several specialized dictionaries by SMH Collin / PH Collin ( published in India by Universal Book Stall under arrangement with Peter Collin Publishing Ltd, UK ). They are for different subjects – Accounting, Banking and Finance, Law, Medicine, Computing, Business, Govt. and Politics and Ecology & Environment, to name some titles.  They contain main entries in the range of about 5,000 words. All the words and expressions are defined in simple terms, and examples are given of how each word is used in context. Short notes point out differences in spelling and construction between British and American English, and encyclopaedic comments are given throughout the text to expand on the definitions. Quotations are given from British and US magazines and newspapers to show how the terms are used in "real life", and the supplement section gives notes on various financial documents.

But there is something special, unbelievable yet true, as each dictionary claims : “The main words are explained in simple English, using a limited vocabulary of about 500 words over and above those words which appear in the dictionary as main words !!

Thus, any one with a limited vocabulary can also understand difficult words which occur frequently while studying technical subjects like medicine, law, computing, etc. ( The 1994 Indian reprint was priced just at Rs.50-60 only ) !!  May God bless those who conceived  & produced them!!

 

 

SECOND  is an equally amazing dictionary , titled "JARGON: An Informal Dictionary of Computer Terms"   by  Robin Williams  

 Here is what Ms Williams ( who is a designer, single mother of three kids, contributing columnist for lots of design magazines, speaker, trainer and all-round wonderful person)  has to say about her creation  -in her own  words, "I wrote this book because I was frustrated with every computer dictionary and glossary I had collected. The explanations were usually so brief and they assumed I knew a host of other things. 

Jargon's purpose is to provide the beginning-to-average computer user with the full meaning of every important term in a way that's clear, complete, and non-stuffy. When I started work on Jargon, I scoped out a book of 160 pages; but eventually it grew to four times that size (700 to be precise) . As a teacher, I knew I wanted to provide longer, richer definitions than those cryptic little phrases you'd normally expect. Fortunately, the publishers  let me get carried away and create a computer dictionary that even my mother could enjoy."

Thumb through Jargon and you see definitions that are remarkably easy to find and to read (what a concept!). Rather than tiny lines of type packed in like sardines, the layout is clear and airy with plenty of white space. To enlighten readers and enliven Jargon even more, the book includes cartoons by John Grimes, whose humor has appeared with great popularity.  Robin Williams's sister Shannon contributed a cross-word puzzle to see whether you've been paying attention. And Robin's daughter Scarlett, age 7, created a delightful font - cleverly named Scarlett- for chapter headings .

It is a  book with hundreds of computer terms explained in such a way that the reader actually understands the word after reading the definition. Covers both the Macintosh and PC world, as well as peripheral terminology. Explains not only the technical definition of the word, but also the how and why of the word.

 
SIMPLE things are always beautiful ! Those who create them are no longer  the ordinary mortals. Our world is worth living because some one , some where is dissatisfied with the status quo and is labouring hard  for  creating a new gift for us


If this was the good news, the bad news is that as per my information, JARGON is out of print now! 

I hope I  am wrong , so that we can but it one more time !!

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? / Kyaa Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?

If some one tells me that the longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis and shortest English word is so and so and the most difficult word to understand is so and so and the most difficult word to spell is such and such and the most difficult word to pronounce is such and such, I can easily get away by saying that English is not my mother tongue.

Some one whose mother tongue it really is also could get away by saying something else - I do not know what – but there must be really a way out! Perhaps she would say : “please do not bother me with such trivia” , which for that matter can be said by any one , mother tongue or not .

One would say that there are dictionaries, thesaurus and what not, so much well within our reach and so why bother .

And here I would not give up the chase and change the question a bit. “Can I ask you meanings of some simple words which you have to answer correctly &  completely  and  in first attempt?

My prey will readily agree and I  shoot : who is a “widow”?

Quickly and confidently she would answer: “ a lady whose husband has died ! Right ?"

Beaming with the smile of a winner, I answer: “ wrong, as was expected. Your answer is incomplete. Widow is a lady whose husband has died and who has not remarried”.

It is not my superior knowledge that I was trying to exhibit ( which certainly I don’t have) but our over-confidence ,  turned into our limitation,  in explaining simple, common words which they teach in kindergarten or first standard ( not to talk of 5th grade)  !

If you disagree with me, please write down what it means (for human beings) “ to walk” and “ to run” and compare your answer with this :

To walk : to advance or travel by foot at a moderate speed; move by advancing the feet alternatively so that there is always one foot on the ground.

To run : to go quickly by moving the legs more rapidly than at a walk and in such a manner that for an instant in each step both feet are off the ground”

Are you a game for some more questions? Here they are. Would you have correctly and completely define the following?

To eat : To take into mouth and swallow for nourishment

                           Chair : A seat, especially for one person, usually having four legs for support                             and a rest for the back and often having rests for the arms.

Rain: Water that is condensed from aqueous vapour in the atmosphere and falls to earth in drops more than 1/50 inch ( or (0.5 mm) in diameter.

Sweet ( taste)  : 1. having the taste or flavour characteristic of sugar, honey, etc. 2. producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not bitter, sour or salt.

( courtesy : Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary )

So, next time you are planning to explain to a young one what a pillow is, for god's sake, ask for some time, go to your study table, double check whether what you are going to explain is correct and complete and then only you can face yourself in the mirror without guilt or shame.

Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933) , is an extreme example of what a stickler for English usage can be and to experience this, you have to wade through my 1975 edition of 725-pages thick “ A Dictionary of Modern English Usage” written by him & first published in 1926.

Sir Ernest Gowers wrote in the preface that “ .. This epoch-making book made the name of Fowler a household word in all English-speaking countries….”

Quoting from The Second World War, v. 615, he further wrote : ‘ Its influence extended even to the battlefield. “ Why must you write intensive here?” asked the Prime Minister    (Winston  Churchill , some time in 1944 - as per this blogger) in a minute to the Director of Military intelligence about the plans for invasion of Normandy. “Intense is the right word. You should read Fowler’s Modern English Usage on the use of the two words.”

Only such a person , wielding his pen with the precision  a surgeon's scalpel can devote three full pages while explaining to me one of the smallest and simplest words, namely “as” !!

Eureka !! My summum bonum  should now be to consult dictionary , even when not in doubt and even for definitions of simple words. One, it will be a good pastime. Secondly, it will give make us smile once in a while  at our stupidity and, more importantly, train us to think and communicate in a more organized way.