The Story of Webster's Third

The Story of Webster's Third PDF Author: Herbert C. Morton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521558693
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
The publication of Webster's Third New International Dictionary in 1961 set off a storm of controversy in both the popular press and in scholarly journals that was virtually unprecedented in its scope and intensity. This is the first full account of the controversy, set within the larger background of how the dictionary was planned and put together by its editor-in-chief, Philip Babcock Gove. Based on original research and interviews with the people who knew and worked with Gove, this is a human story as well as the story of the making of a dictionary. The author skilfully interweaves an account of Gove's character and working habits with the evolution of the dictionary. The reception given Webster's Third - now widely regarded as one of the greatest dictionaries of our time - illuminates public misconceptions about language and the role of dictionaries.

The Story of Webster's Third

The Story of Webster's Third PDF Author: Herbert C. Morton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521558693
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
The publication of Webster's Third New International Dictionary in 1961 set off a storm of controversy in both the popular press and in scholarly journals that was virtually unprecedented in its scope and intensity. This is the first full account of the controversy, set within the larger background of how the dictionary was planned and put together by its editor-in-chief, Philip Babcock Gove. Based on original research and interviews with the people who knew and worked with Gove, this is a human story as well as the story of the making of a dictionary. The author skilfully interweaves an account of Gove's character and working habits with the evolution of the dictionary. The reception given Webster's Third - now widely regarded as one of the greatest dictionaries of our time - illuminates public misconceptions about language and the role of dictionaries.

The Story of Ain't

The Story of Ain't PDF Author: David Skinner
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062345753
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
“It takes true brilliance to lift the arid tellings of lexicographic fussing into the readable realm of the thriller and the bodice-ripper….David Skinner has done precisely this, taking a fine story and honing it to popular perfection.” —Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman The captivating, delightful, and surprising story of Merriam Webster’s Third Edition, the dictionary that provoked America’s greatest language controversy. In those days, Webster’s Second was the great gray eminence of American dictionaries, with 600,000 entries and numerous competitors but no rivals. It served as the all-knowing guide to the world of grammar and information, a kind of one-stop reference work. In 1961, Webster’s Third came along and ignited an unprecedented controversy in America’s newspapers, universities, and living rooms. The new dictionary’s editor, Philip Gove, had overhauled Merriam’s long held authoritarian principles to create a reference work that had “no traffic with…artificial notions of correctness or authority. It must be descriptive not prescriptive.” Correct use was determined by how the language was actually spoken, and not by “notions of correctness” set by the learned few. Dwight MacDonald, a formidable American critic and writer, emerged as Webster’s Third’s chief nemesis when in the pages of the New Yorker he likened the new dictionary to the end of civilization.. The Story of Ain’t describes a great cultural shift in America, when the voice of the masses resounded in the highest halls of culture, when the division between highbrow and lowbrow was inalterably blurred, when the humanities and its figureheads were shunted aside by advances in scientific thinking. All the while, Skinner treats the reader to the chippy banter of the controversy’s key players. A dictionary will never again seem as important as it did in 1961.

Noah Webster and His Words

Noah Webster and His Words PDF Author: Jeri Chase Ferris
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0547935412
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Webster’s American Dictionary is the second most popular book ever printed in English. But who was that Webster? Noah Webster (1758–1843) was a bookish Connecticut farm boy who became obsessed with uniting America through language. He spent twenty years writing two thousand pages to accomplish that, and the first 100 percent American dictionary was published in 1828 when he was seventy years old. This clever, hilariously illustrated account shines a light on early American history and the life of a man who could not rest until he’d achieved his dream. An illustrated chronology of Webster’s life makes this a picture perfect bi-og-ra-phy [noun: a written history of a person's life].

An American Dictionary of the English Language

An American Dictionary of the English Language PDF Author: Noah Webster
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 1122

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Book Description


Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged

Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged PDF Author: Philip Babcock Gove
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 2738

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Book Description


Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas

Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas PDF Author: William Lashner
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 1368045987
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Welcome to Elizabeth Webster's world, where the common laws of middle school torment her days . . . and the uncommon laws of an even weirder realm govern her nights. Elizabeth Webster is happy to stay under the radar (and under her bangs) until middle school is dead and gone. But when star swimmer Henry Harrison asks Elizabeth to tutor him in math, it's not linear equations Henry really needs help with-it's a flower-scented, poodle-skirt-wearing, head-tossing ghost who's calling out Elizabeth's name. But why Elizabeth? Could it have something to do with her missing lawyer father? Maybe. Probably. If only she could find him. In her search, Elizabeth discovers more than she is looking for: a grandfather she never knew, a startling legacy, and the secret family law firm, Webster & Son, Attorneys for the Damned. Elizabeth and her friends soon land in court, where demons and ghosts take the witness stand and a red-eyed judge with a ratty white wig hands out sentences like sandwiches. Will Elizabeth's father arrive in time to save Henry Harrison-and is Henry the one who really needs saving? Set in the historic streets of Philadelphia, this riveting middle-grade mystery from New York Times bestselling author William Lashner will have readers banging their gavels and calling for more from the incomparable Elizabeth Webster.

W Is For Webster

W Is For Webster PDF Author: Tracey Fern
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 1466895101
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
From an early age, Noah Webster was an odd fellow who liked to talk big and loved learning. He thought America needed its own national language and knew he was just the man to create it. He started with a speller, including everyday words like "scab," "grub," and "mop," and moved on to create a small dictionary. He rode around on a horse, selling his books by hand. Then Noah decided to compile a complete and comprehensive dictionary of American English. He thought the book would take him five years to finish. It took twenty, but his dictionary today is the second-most printed book in the English language.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law PDF Author: Merriam-Webster, Inc
Publisher: Merriam-Webster
ISBN: 9780877796046
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description
A search only dictionary on the FindLaw web site that includes 10,000 definitions of legal terms.

Merriam-Webster's Secretarial Handbook

Merriam-Webster's Secretarial Handbook PDF Author: Merriam-Webster, Inc
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description
An authoritative reference source for today's office professional. Covers all aspects of office management. Includes an introduction to computers and a guide to business English. Provides abundant practical examples.

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary PDF Author: Henry Bosley Woolf
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780877793304
Category : Anglais (Langue) - Dictionnaires
Languages : en
Pages : 1568

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Book Description
Based on Webster's third new international dictionary.