It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.
Dictionary Quotes
Adams: But Sir, how can you do this in three years? Johnson: Sir, I have no doubt I can do it in three years. Adams: But the French Academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their dictionary. Johnson: Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times […]
In three moments a laborer will remove an obstructing rock, but three moons will pass without two wise men agreeing on the meaning of a single vowel.
At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.
