A Word to the Wise

The dictionary in question is Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, published by G. & C. Merriam Company in 1924. It weighs just under fifteen pounds; the front cover is frayed and attached by only a few threads. I’ve since acquired older dictionaries, published early in the nineteenth century, in English and Spanish, and others of a more recent date, in French and German. Armenian, Japanese, and Russian are also represented, as well as Latin. I’d like to have one in Italian: that book has yet to find me, but it will. Dictionaries are great friends; they’re a comfort; sometimes I look up the same word in every one I have. It’s a great exercise, and the dictionaries themselves are grateful for the attention. Such patience they have — in a way, they’re like very old men and women we’ve known, who live down the street or just around the corner, or perhaps within some fold of fond memory, who, when you meet them, always have time to talk. And they know how to talk; and they know the value of it. So take a little time — with your dictionaries, with your neighbors, with yourself.

[ 2000 ]