I bought on old dictionary this week, a 1954 Webster’s New American. It has a hardbound cover, line art images on each page, and cut-out letter tabs on the side to easily find what I am looking up. There are even color maps of the world in the center. It’s wonderful, but much like most things its age, it’s far from perfect. The inside pages are yellowing, tattered and brittle and have a slight scent of cigarettes. Even so, it is still usable, and I plan to put it to work.
Yes, I have spell check on my word processing software, and, yes, I use it religiously. But there’s something about having a dictionary on hand and looking things up the old-fashioned way. For starters, I think it helps me learn more than having a computer correct words for me.
We use that same principle in all our copy editing at Big Green Umbrella Media. We physically print out pages, and our staff proofs them with pens in hand. We have tried editing on the computer screens in various methods, but we found that we were not as accurate. Call it old-school if you want, but it works — and so does the dictionary.
Just for fun, I looked up the word “computer” in my newly found 1954 dictionary. It wasn’t listed. I love it.
These words were missing as well: photobomb, troll, emoji, infomercial, blog, voicemail, spam, Wi-Fi, selfie, malware and in-box. Sounds refreshing, doesn’t it?
Are you curious what words were added in the 1954 dictionary as “new” words? Here are a few: amphetamine, bazooka, brunch, flame thrower, happy dust, laminated wood, racism, Technicolor and zoot suit. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?
I may lose interest in this relic, and it may soon sit on a shelf and collect dust until my wife sells it to someone else who may find it interesting. But for today, at least, it reminds me of days before my time that certainly had their own struggles and worries and concerns but also had more simple and serene aspects, too.
I didn’t grow up in the 1950s. Some say I never grew up at all. But I did watch “Happy Days” in the 1970s, and I am guessing Mr. and Mrs. C. had a dictionary much like the one I bought on the shelves in their living room. And that makes me smile.
Now, forgive me while I look up what a zoot suit is.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com
View Shane Goodman's archived columns from past issues here. |
