SHARP TOOLS

[P3D <shab@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mr. Paul S. Boyer,

I like your closing quote in digest # 1479:

"How to Become a Machinist."  Rule no. 1 is "Keep your cutting tools sharp."

This metaphor is especially important when you need to use precise
terminology and careful spelling. Incidentally, Mr. Boyer, your paragraph
below, is a good example: "decriptive" is misspelled and you probably mean
lexicographers rather than "lexographers."  What a pity to overlook such
errors when giving a lecture about precise use of language. Perhaps it is
time to sharpen those tools again!

"Gabriel Jacob and several others of our group here on photo-3d seem
to feel that what a majority thinks a word means is definitive.  The
matter is a bit more complicated.  The majority has no idea of the
meanings of many words.  Here we are dealing with two functions of
dictionaries: the proscriptive, and the merely decriptive.  Older
lexographers tended toward the former: they saw dictionaries as
teaching tools.  Frequently they inserted their own ideas of meaning
and spelling.  Noah Webster is responsible for the way Americans
spell color (instead of "colour"), and center (rather than "centre").
 The semiliterate hicks had to be taught how to spell, so might as
well tell them how things should be done."


Respectfully,

Shab Levy
Portland, Oregon USA





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