Monday, February 16, 2009

Dictionary


The Misers have this old, dog-eared dictionary that once belonged to Sparky's father. It's The Everyday Encyclopedia Edition of Webster's New World Dictionary Of The American Language published in 1965, and it is held together with green masking tape. I love this dictionary and will never part with it, even though we should probably buy a new one. But I keeping asking my Miser self why buy a new one, when this one is still perfectly good? I mean, it still works. Okay, so maybe random pages fall out every time I open it, but other than that... Misers love to hold on to their things, (well this one does, anyway) and the idea of spending money on a new dictionary when this one is still fine leaves me feeling slightly ill. That is how much I love this old tattered book. Plus, it has all kinds of added bonuses contained in its archaic pages, such as chapters on history - Presidents of the United States, for example (although the last entry is Lyndon B. Johnson.) Under Micellany it lists the Seven Wonders Of The World, both Ancient and Medieval. On the same page of these old wonders are Birthstones and Wedding Anniversaries (the sixth anniversary is iron, just in case you were wondering). It also explains how the days and the months got their names, and the "marvelous properties" attributed to gemstone (stay away from opals, whatever you do).
Some other useful and fascinating things this dictionary contains are: various abbreviations, how to correctly write a business letter, civics lessons (both the Constitution of The United States [up to 1961] and the Declaration of Independence are represented in their entirety), English grammar, foreign words and phrases, geography, home economics (household information for the housewife), medicine, mathematics, music, Parliamentary law, and my personal favorite category: literature. Under this heading are lists of the Great Books of The World, Mythological and Classical Names, and the Plays of Shakespeare. Mind you, this book's references stop in the early sixties, so it is extremely dated. But that is one of its many endearing features, if you ask me. Also, this book is full of color plates such as Fish of Unusual Interest, and Rare Birds of Brilliant Plumage. Did I mention how much I love this book? I use it all of the time.
It is especially dear to me because it belonged to Sparky's dad, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting. He died way before I met Sparky, back when Sparky was 19. His name was Will (not William but just Will), and he was a dentist who served in both WWII and the Korean War. He lived with his family in tiny Rushville, IN, where he was a member of the Elks Club. He enjoyed traveling with his family, and was a closet filmmaker (Sparky has some old 8mm films of Will's that feature long, sweeping pans of landscapes - beautiful stuff). Will especially enjoyed trying new things, he always had to have the latest gadget that came out, and he was an adventuresome eater, which is rare for a Hoosier. Most Hoosiers stick with plain old meat and potatoes, and when trying a new food that they don't particularly care for will say "It's different." (Whenever anybody says "It's different" they really mean "I hate it".)  I always knew that I would have loved Sparky's dad, he just seems like he would have been a great father-in-law. And that is probably the biggest singular reason why I love this old dictionary so damn much.

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