Monday, October 14, 2002

National Dictionary Day

Noah Webster came into the world on October 16. His name has since become synonymous with dictionaries, and now we celebrate his birthday as National Dictionary Day. Go ahead, crack open a dictionary and look up a word, just for fun. Or better still, just open a dictionary at random and read a few of the words. You will most likely learn something, and not necessarily just a definition.

Words hold the history not only of our language but of our culture. As the culture changes, words emerge to describe new ideas, or fall away as their subjects fade into history. Sometimes a word evolves into new meanings to keep up with new usages.

If you like to use the internet (and you probably do, or you wouldn't have stopped by here...) you can satisfy your dictionary browsing needs at OneLook, an incredible dictionary compendium site.

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