The richness of language can be under-appreciated because of its mundane nature. James Somers’s essay You’re probably using the wrong dictionary recently turned me on to old dictionaries, which – with colorful descriptions and honest uncertainties – gratify much more than what we’ve come to expect of dictionaries. While modern dictionaries give you matter-of-fact descriptions of words you don’t know, older dictionaries have a vivid, more exciting style that is equally likely to enlighten you about words you do know. Tracking down references made by John McPhee about his own dictionary, Somers recommends Webster’s Revised Unabridged 1913 dictionary.
Reading Webster’s 1913 is a satisfying exercise. What strikes me most, however, are the descriptions of slang, colloquialisms, and vulgarities. These are terms or uses which are informal, conversational; the dictionary’s etymology for slang notes its roots in ‘having no just reason for being.’ With these entries, a work now seen as a record of American English is defining language which, by its own description, is “unauthorized”.
The tension results in a wonderful series of entries, some that are very familiar to us:
MOVIE: A moving picture or a moving picture show; — commonly used in pl. [Slang or Colloq.] — [Slang] (@OldSlang) June 2, 2014
DOCTOR: 1. To treat as a physician does; to apply remedies to; to repair; as, to doctor a sick man or a broken cart. [Colloq.]
— [Slang] (@OldSlang) June 1, 2014
Others give glimpses of periods past:
STICK: 4. A derogatory expression for a person; one who is inert or stupid; as, an odd stick; a poor stick. — [Slang] (@OldSlang) June 1, 2014
AVOIRDUPOIS: 3. Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois.
— [Slang] (@OldSlang) June 2, 2014
Ultimately, many are just delightful to chew on, like reckon:
RECKON: To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances, followed by an objective clause; as, I reckon he won't try that again
— [Slang] (@OldSlang) June 2, 2014
Since the fun of these entries is in savoring the words and the vivid descriptions that accompany them, I created a Twitter bot, @OldSlang, to tweet the entries one by one.
The medium of Twitter bot offers us the ability to shine a spotlight on the entries as individual entities; “hence, conspicuous public notice“. While it is certainly possible to look up all the words, perhaps dig through my Github account to find them, there is a different dynamic of attention with a tweet. Having @OldSlang drop another tweet in your timeline from time to time is not simply a slow-burn form of reading, but a different experience of appreciation.