MDBCs 16 Oct 2024

Born on October 16, 1758, Webster is best known for publishing An American Dictionary of the English Language, the precursor of the now famous and widely used Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Reference Book

A dictionary is a reference book that lists words in a language and provides the meaning, origin and pronunciation of each listed word. The book also informs users on how to use a word in different circumstances.

Semasiological, of Course

Dictionaries are semasiological. Semasiology is the branch of linguistics that deals with the definition of words and phrases in a language. This is different from onomasiology, which deals with what things and concepts are called. A thesuarus is an onomasiological reference book because it provides users the different terms that can be used to express a specific idea.

How to Celebrate?

Pick up a dictionary and try to learn the meanings of at least 5 new words.
Learn more about the history and science behind publishing dictionaries.

Did You Know...

...that pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary? At 45 letters, the word refers to a lung disease.

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Choosing a movie? Don’t trust these extremely abbreviated plot  explanations.

The Shining: A family’s first Airbnb experience goes very wrong.

The Lord of the Rings: Group spends nine hours returning jewelry.

Titanic: Everyone tries the ice-bucket challenge.

Beauty and the Beast: Stockholm syndrome works.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Kid comes out of the closet.

***

I’m employed at a computer security company and have a colleague whose name is,

M. Alware. His e-mail address is malware@company.com.

My ex-boss’s name is R. Stone. His e-mail was stoner@company.co.in.

My name is James Pan. Every other permutation of my name was taken (e.g., jpan, jamesp), so I’m stuck with japan@university.edu.

***

The attorney tells the accused, “I have some good news and some bad news.”

“What’s the bad news?” asks the accused.

“The bad news is, your blood  is all over the crime scene, and the DNA tests prove you did it.”

“What’s the good news?”

“Your cholesterol is 130.”

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I’ve given up social media for the New Year and am trying to make friends outside Facebook while  applying the same principles. Every day, I walk down the street and tell passersby what I’ve eaten, how I feel, what I did the night before, and what I will do tomorrow. Then I give them pictures of my family, my dog, and me gardening. I also listen to their conversations and tell them I love them.

And it works. I already have three people following me—two  police officers and a psychiatrist.

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The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest honors purposely lousy opening sentences for nonexistent novels.

This entry from finalist Phillip Davies of Cardiff, Wales, gave us a very real laugh:

“Finally, after 97 long days adrift, Captain Pertwee was  rescued, mercifully ending his miserable diet of rainwater and strips of sun-dried Haddock—which was  actually far ghastlier than it sounded, what with George Haddock being  his former first mate.”