While I accomplished my March goal of finishing the alphabetical list of English language words normally associated with the dictionary, I must be honest in my assessment of my goal of finishing the dictionary in full by May 19th. I just don’t see how it will be possible unless I can crank out a dozen or more pages each weekend. I’ll definitely finish this book before the end of June though. We’ll see if I can surprise myself though.I didn’t draw much from X, Y, or Z but that may be unsurprising as small a set of words those combined for. The first supplemental section was abbreviations. I expected this section to be interesting but I was pretty neutral to it. The next section I conquered contained foreign words and phrases. I also expected this section to be interesting. What I got instead was about 50% Latin phrases and 25% French phrases.
Having not taken Latin, and not being provided any history on why such phrases were significant enough to include in the dictionary, this made for a very boring and disappointing section. In my final review, I will revisit my gripe about MW’s obsession with trying to link as many English language words back to Latin as they possibly can. It’s been a little annoying this whole time, so get handed a section half full of Latin words was not ideal.
The biographical names section has contained some interesting finds but I haven’t seen many worth sharing with you. I’m noticing a lot of dramatists, scientists, military men, and minor philosophers that I’ve never heard of. This makes me wonder why they’re included, as well as which unassuming late 20th Century names will be included in this section 50 years from now.
Here are March’s most interesting words, abbreviations, and names:
WELSH RABBIT- This word is the name of a cuisine consisting of melted cheese over toast or crackers. I didn’t look into it further yet but I suspect it’s a bit of a condescending moniker that refers to the Welsh being of lower means that the British.
WELTANSCHAUUNG- I was introduced to this word by the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes when I was a kid. At the time, I think I probably assumed it was a made up word. I probably learned it was a real word when I took German in school.
WINDBREAKER- My dictionary dated this word, stemming from a trademark for a type of lightweight jacket, to 1918. I was going to celebrate its centennial but MW online can trace it back to 1914 now. Oh well, it’s still much older than I’d have guessed.
WORRY- The oldest three definitions for this word shocked me. They all mean a physical attack. I wish MW would give dates for each specific definition because I would love to know when this word switched from meaning physical distress to mental distress.
ZAMBONI- As a hockey fan, I was appalled to find this word omitted from the dictionary. Upon researching the term, I found the ice-cleaning machine is named after its creator. My dictionary failed to include the creator in the biographical names as well. It turns out that, despite being invented the word Zamboni didn't hit popularity until the 90s. My dictionary is the tenth edition, so perhaps Zamboni was included in the eleventh.
ZANY- I never knew this word originated as a noun. It described a subordinate clown in a comedy act. The adjectival form of the word describes actions akin to a zany.
ZEPPELIN- I didn’t know that this word was taken from the name of its designer. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German general and founded a company that produced the lighter-than-air craft that bore his name. He died before the end of World War I, so he never saw his creation cease to be used for military attack and grow in popularity as a means of peacetime travel.
ZOO- It’s short for zoological garden. I never knew that.
AHL- One of the only interesting abbreviations I found, this was a pleasant surprise. The American Hockey League is a big deal in my area because we have an AHL team in Hershey and a strong fan base that supports them. I did not expect to see an abbreviation for a minor sports league.
EKG- I remember being told once that they call it an EKG because using C to represent cardio would make it look too much like EEC if a doctor sloppily wrote it down or vice versa. Whoever told me that is wrong because it’s called an EKG because its abbreviated from its original German word, Elektrokardiogramm.
UNICEF- Call me ignorant, but I never knew what it stood for: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Needs Fund.
BENEDICT- This showed just how out of date a physical dictionary can become. It defines the name Benedict as being used by 15 popes. It’s 16 now. There were also many names I saw that were listed as being still alive when my dictionary was published back in 1996 that I know are dead now. I pause for a knowing ‘huh’ every time I come across such an instance.
Page Count: 1440/1600 (90.00%)
Countdown to Geographical Names: 38 pages
No comments:
Post a Comment