![]() ![]() ![]() Her father works as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary project, and Esme collects the paper slips that her father and the other employees collect, curate, and consider for the first editions of the dictionary. In this sweet, historical novel, Esme is just a kid when she starts collecting words. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams The story is sweeping in nature, but the book is short, with compact sentences and, of course, careful, precise wording. The novel follows Majime over the next 15 years as he falls in love with his landlady’s granddaughter, hires a young editor to join his team, and spends his days poring over the words to include in the nearly 3,000-page, updated edition. Araki finds Mitsuya Majime, a younger colleague in the sales department who is awkward, unsure of what he wants to do, and fascinated by language. When Kohei Araki is ready to retire from his role as dictionary editor, he needs to find his replacement to work on the next project, The Great Passage, a new, inclusive, complete Japanese dictionary. This novel also explores the dictionary as a purpose and a workplace. The Great Passage by Shion Miura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter Even more, the writing is beautiful, with charming, energetic wordplay perfect for a dictionary-based book. This book is a delightful glimpse into the lives of two compelling characters who are questioning their vocation and their purpose while working for the dictionary. Mallory commits herself to the project, despite her boss’s general neglect and an anonymous caller threatening the dictionary headquarters. In the present day, Mallory is interning at Swansby’s Dictionary for what she thinks might be too long when her boss, the last in a long line Swanby editors, tasks her with finding all of these fake words and removing them before the dictionary is digitized. In the late 19th century, Peter Winceworth is a lexicographer working on “S” for the Swansby’s dictionary when he decides to enter his own words into the work. Plus, she leaves you with some feminist suggestions for additions to your cursing vocab.Įley Williams’ debut novel follows a fictional dictionary during two timelines. Montell walks you through studies about perceptions of women who swear, as well as the different types of swear words and how often being likened to a woman is an insult. She covers everything from vocal fry to discourse markers to female pronouns for inanimate objects to the six different forms of like (all of which, Montell argues, you’re free to use.) But Montell’s chapter on insults might be the most entertaining in this book-if also one of the most infuriating. In this work of nonfiction, Amanda Montell explores this sexism inherent in our language-and how we think about “correct” use of language to this day.īecause Montell is a linguist, she deals not only with words but how, when, and why we use them. And that’s just one of so many phrases, words, and even grammatical rules with built-in biases. I was in a women and gender studies class in grad school when it finally clicked that referring to a text as a seminal work of feminist literature was, well, wrong. Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell Here are seven books that explore the dictionary and its cultural impact as a scholarly pursuit, as a place to find purpose, as a text to be challenged and changed, and a way to find meaning. So whether you’re already following all your favorite dictionaries on Twitter or you’re looking for more word-play fixes after Wordle, this list has some required reading. Our language evolves, and new words and new meanings arise, so dictionaries need to be paying attention and actively involved. It can be tempting to see a dictionary as a completely objective text, a collection of words and their meanings that exist separate from the day-to-day, but we know that’s not the case. But it still makes it clear that, like other dictionaries, takes some stances. Now, the account is only a brand personality for the dictionary created by an impressive team (looking at you, social media manager heroes). Self-made: Having succeeded in life unaided. ![]()
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