{"id":1370,"date":"2008-09-24T06:54:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-24T06:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:15","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:15","slug":"thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html","title":{"rendered":"Thinking of Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some years ago, while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in order to get into graduate school, and then for a while in graduate school, as well; my absolutely necessary down time mostly consisted of reading Rex Stout\u2019s Nero Wolfe<\/a> novels. The advantages were few but obvious. Stout could string sentences together nicely. His characters were charming. And Stout\u2019s forty-eight forays into Nero Wolfe\u2019s life and adventures were rarely complicated with new plots. Perfect for my purposes\u2026<\/p>\n

One evening I opened my latest Wolfe to come upon a scene where his trusty assistant Archie walks into Wolfe\u2019s study only to witness the master tearing pages out of his new Merriam-Webster\u2019s<\/a> dictionary and throwing the offending sheets into the fireplace. The novel must have been published a little after 1961 when Merriam-Webster published its controversial \u201cThird International\u201d edition. The new Third was controversial for many reasons, including its massive deletion of archaic words. Hence Wolfe\u2019s ire\u2026<\/p>\n

This struck a major chord for me.<\/p>\n

As readers of this blog might recall my formal education was spotty, due largely to my family\u2019s peregrinations<\/span> during my childhood.<\/p>\n

One reason I was able to escape the rounds of poverty my place among our culture\u2019s underclasses pretty much assured was undoubtedly due to Merriam-Webster. From a very, very early age I recall gong to the library and walking up to the stand that, wherever we were, held their copy of Merriam-Webster. I would look up a word. That would lead to another. That would lead to another. I knew my time at the dictionary was done when I found myself at the narwhal<\/span> listing. I would savor the picture. Then move on. (Sadly, I couldn\u2019t find an online version of that engraving for this posting\u2026)<\/p>\n

I started early enough in this enterprise that my first experiences were with the Second. But this project continued for years and I suspect I didn\u2019t even notice the shift to the new edition.<\/p>\n

The dictionary<\/span> itself traces a direct line to Noah Webster. At his death the Merriam brothers purchased the existing stock and rights to revise and reprint.<\/p>\n

Today, as it turns out, is the 151st anniversary of the first revision published by the Merriam brother\u2019s dictionary company<\/a>, which began the course that would lead to it dominating the field for generations to come.<\/p>\n

And giving me that important helping hand\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in order to get into graduate school, and then for a while in graduate school, as well; my absolutely necessary down time mostly consisted of reading Rex Stout\u2019s Nero Wolfe novels. The advantages were few but obvious. Stout could string sentences together nicely. His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThinking of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some years ago, while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in order to get into graduate school, and then for a while in graduate school, as well;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thinking of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some years ago, while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in order to get into graduate school, and then for a while in graduate school, as well;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-24T06:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SNokdiwzJ8I\/AAAAAAAABRg\/tAMeDR6trHY\/s320\/Narwhale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html\",\"name\":\"Thinking of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-24T06:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"Some years ago, while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in order to get into graduate school, and then for a while in graduate school, as well;\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/thinking-of-merriam-websters-dictionary.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thinking of Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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