The entities
A sentence is of words,
All borrowed from the dictionary.
Yet it has a soul
Unfound in the dictionary.
All are made of five elements;
Yet each has an entity.
06.02.2005
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Your Dictionary
H-a-t-e
Is that how you spell love in your dictionary
K-i-c-k
Pronounced as kind
F-u-c-k
Is that how you spell friend in your dictionary
Black on black
A guidebook for the blind
Well now that I can see my eyes wont weep
Now that I can hear your song sounds cheap
Now that I can talk all your corn Ill reap
Im not so sure that joey wed a virgin mary
There are no words for me inside your dictionary
S-l-a-p
Is that how you spell kiss in your dictionary
C-o-l-d
Pronounced as care
S-h-i-t
Is that how you spelt me in your dictionary
Four-eyed fool
You led round everywhere
Now that I can see its the queens new clothes
Now that I can hear all your poison prose
Now that I can talk with my tongue unfroze
Im not so sure of santa or the buck-tooth fairy
There are no words for me inside your dictionary
Now your laughter has a hollow ring
But the hollow ring has no finger in
So lets close the book and let the day begin
And our marriage be undone
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Desire To Know Deep Meanings
Dictionary!
My Dictionary!
Raise it high in your right hand!
We shall use it
we shall use it to explore
to seek out...
the meaning of words
the meaning behind words
the multiple hidden meaning of life.
Amen.
Because modern computer dictionaries
really blow... they do, not, contain,
varied rich poetical meanings of words...
as some of my youthful dictionaries did
stimulating imagination, thought, wonder,
stimulating a desire to know deep meanings...
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Webster's American Spellings
One spelling was English established.
Webster's Dictionary spells it incorrect?
Noah Webster in the early 19th century...
busily composed comprehensive dictionaries.
Numerous unrelated dictionaries added
Webster's name to share prestige established.
Oh bother Webster's first dictionary
‘A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language'
aired first appeared in 1806 was hexed?
With American spellings it was freely littered?
Spelling honor not honour center not centre.
Webster's program not programme spread what?
Two decades of his spelling confusions expanded?
An ‘American Dictionary of the English Language'
in 1828 lead in 1841 to his edition revised expanded?
In two volumes a 2nd Edition ‘Corrected Enlarged'?
Webster's vocabulary 1st edition with corrections
improvements plus five thousand additional words?
But acid test Webster's endeavors were poorly received?
Specific criticisms typographic unattractiveness included?
Webster's type face was bad choice too small hard to read?
Why write non-use of capital letters only 'God' capitalized?
Why because goal was to save space to fit in obscure words?
Why dictionary excessive use of citations which offended?
Why decision deliberate
misspellings as legitimate
sanctified word variants?
Culturally conservative Federalists
intensely detested Webster innovations
Webster Dictionary denounced?
Webster's Dictionary
too radical complaint
bordering on vulgar?
Webster's fierce foes
Jefferson Madison
Republicans attacked?
Labeled Webster mad
for writing Compendious
Dictionary 1806 published?
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Djolan
Soft was the night, the eve how airy,
When through the big, fat dictionary
I wandered on in careless ease,
And read the a's, b's, c's and d's!
But stop! What is this form I see,
Beginning with a hump-backed d?
I pause! I gasp! I falter there!
It is the djolan, I declare!
It is the djolan, wond'rous word!
The Buceros plicatus bird!
Ne'er, ne'er before had I the bliss
To meet a djolly word like this!
'Twas djust before my dinner hour --
Well, let the djuicy djoint go sour!
Djoyful I read. I djust must see
What this strange djolan word may be!
Ah! ha! It is a noun! A noun!
(A ''name word" as we say in town)
"E. Ind. The native name of the
Year bird." These are the words I see.
"A hornbill with a white tail and --"
The big book trembles in my hand --
"-- plicated membrane at the base --"
Ah, well-a-day! If that's the case!
"-- base of the beak, inhabiting --"
Oh! dictionary, wond'rous thing!
"-- the Sunda Islands ----" Where would we
Without our dictionary be?
"-- Malacca, e-t-c." That's all!
I let the dictionary fall.
I am replete. All is explained.
Knowledge (it's power) is what I've gained!
Soft was the night, the eve how airy,
I read no more the dictionary,
But Oh! and Oh! my heart was stirred
To learn the djolan was a bird!
Submitted by John Martin
poem by Ellis Parker Butler
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Borrowed
borrowed shirts, borrowed shoes,
borrowed books, borrowed thoughts,
borrowed bed, borrowed lover,
borrowed dreams, borrowed salt.
borrowed children, borrowed mothers,
borrowed study, borrowed lives.
borrowed God, borrowed heaven,
borrowed killers with borrowed knives.
borrowed flags, borrowed lies,
borrowed virtue, borrowed freedom.
borrowed bombs, borrowed bullets,
borrowed puppets, borrowed kingdoms.
borrowed soup bowls, borrowed numbers,
borrowed tents, borrowed bridge.
borrowed hope, borrowed survival,
borrowed till it's sacrilige!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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So Young
In the misery dictionary
Page after page after page
In the misery dictionary
Page after page
Where theres life theres gotta be hope
And where theres a will theres a way
One mans in is anothers out
I gotta get out today
Where theres life theres gotta be hope
And where theres a will theres a way
Amid divisions youre so low
You know I gotta get out today
In the misery dictionary
Page after page after page
In the misery dictionary
Page after page
And where theres a will theres a way
song performed by by Stone Roses
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Too Marvelous For Words
Youre just too marvelous
Too marvelous for words
Like glorious, glamorous
And that old standby amorous
Its all too wonderful
Ill never find the words
That say enough, tell enough
I mean they just arent swell enough
Youre much too much, and just too very very
To ever be, in websters dictionary
And so, Im borrowing a love song from the birds
To tell you that youre marvelous
Too marvelous for words
Youre much too much, and just too very very
To ever be, in websters dictionary
And so, Im borrowing a love song from the birds
To tell you that youre marvelous
Too marvelous for words
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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So Young
In the misery dictionary
Page after page after page
In the misery dictionary
Page after page
Where there's life there's gotta be hope
And where there's a will there's a way
One man's in is another's out
I gotta get out today
Where there's life there's gotta be hope
And where there's a will there's a way
Amid divisions you're so low
You know I gotta get out today
In the misery dictionary
Page after page after page
In the misery dictionary
Page after page
And where there's a will there's a way
song performed by by The Stone Roses from Garage Flower
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Who Wonders About Spellings?
who wonders about spellings?
judgement made and judgment passed
a word application flags judgement
as an incorrect spelling
but a rolling stone gathers no moss
search the word online
a kiwi familiar with both
British and American spellings
instantly searches in mind
both judgement and judgment
occur with seemingly equal frequency
one English the other American?
Dictionary English
Dictionary American
Program setting in computer?
What a bother!
If both are OK
on differing sides of pond?
Yes Yes you guess
you could...
updat your dictionary?
by adding
the 'judgement'
spelling
but doing
so might
lend
it will it will
assistance...
to spelling
inconsistencies
a certain probability
yes yes a 'judgment call'
your wondering
why the two spellings?
now your saying
you would have to say
British spelling is judgement
American spelling is judgment
now your quoting
early twentieth century?
when H. W. Fowler
was writing
his influential
book on usage
a personal opinion
the spelling judgment
was research evidently
being used
by a lot
of British writers?
It is the British spelling
it is the British rule
for all British spellings!
All American writers
use American spellings
unless living in Britain?
Canada Australia
New Zealand India
Commonwealth nations?
according to Fowler
'modern usage'
favored judgment?
nevertheless
Fowler and the OED
preferred judgement?
What rot old bean
Henry Watson Fowler
was an English schoolmaster
a lexicographer
and commentator
on the usage
of the English language
notable for both achievements
'A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'
and work on the 'Concise Oxford Dictionary'
described by 'The Times'
as 'a lexicographical genius'
he was English following
English spellings
English rules
pure simple or researched
how bizarre to come so far from
judgement to judgment made
but for a different spin read on in
judgements of a poet fanciful made
when waxing romantic artful
'When Soul Walked Night Visions'
when waxing playful insightful delightful
'A Desire To Know Deep Meanings'
explores shift changes in dictionaries made
or knock upon histories door for origins
'Dr Samuel Johnson's Dictionary Masterpiece'
cross channel 'Webster's American Spellings'
final 'Judgement Of A Word' brings us
full circle global internet on line spellings
to swiftly search out basic online meanings
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Nature is a dictionary; one draws words from it.
quote by Eugene Delacroix
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I need no dictionary of quotations to remind me that the eyes are the windows of the soul.
quote by Max Beerbohm
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.
quote by Dorothy Fields
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Walt Whitman, he who laid end to end words never seen in each other's company before outside of a dictionary.
quote by David Lodge
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What Is A Terrorist Sarah Palin?
No a terrorist is “somebody who uses violence,
especially bombing, kidnapping, and assassination,
to intimidate others, often for political purposes”.
Julian prints truth, the public, has a right to know?
From proven sources, like journalists, newspapers.
Unlike American intelligence community accurately.
The meaning of terrorism is defined in a dictionary.
As reportedly once a journalist should not Sarah know?
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
The definition of terrorist used, was quoted directly from the Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) .
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Lust Love and Infatuation
Just as any teen
on relationship matters I was so keen
flip-flopping the pages
there I was
Time to build my vocabulary,
I realized.
Bonds! people form bonds?
not the bonds of chemistry,
stronger than these it sounds
It last for years
if not lifetime
no other reaction can break it.
The aftermath of infatuation
(going by the dictionary,)
to Love its contrary
the hunky-parky is hell
Its more than a piercing blade.
The (pre-pain) is wonderful
Not my spherical dictionary
no the little figures can explain
superb, perfect, splendid, ...
Am sorry I cannot put it well.
It calls it infatuation
If you like it say lust
not enough? then use 'love'.
poem by Marbet Daniel
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Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Are
There have been times,
That I have wished,
That I said more.
Spent more time,
Telling you how I feel.
This is coming from my heart.
I am being real.
I have gotten my words together.
It seems like it took forever.
To say the right words,
So you will know,
Well here goes.
You are like a strong heartbeat.
The words in your dictionary,
Are all upbeat.
Positively,
Believe,
In your dreams,
You will see,
Absolutely,
This is how,
I see you.
You have won my heart by far.
It is all because of who you are.
poem by Tameeka Smith
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A great memory is never made synonymous with wisdom, any more than a dictionary would be called a treatise.
quote by John Henry Cardinal Newman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dr Samuel Johnson's Dictionary Masterpiece
June 1746 deeply dissatisfied
with the dictionaries of the period
London booksellers contracted
Dr Samuel Johnson to write
'A Dictionary of the English Language'
15 April 1755 finally published.
Johnson took nine years to create
an authoritative dictionary of the English language
could finish in three years he claimed?
Preposterous Académie Française employed;
in comparison over forty learned scholars
spending needing forty years to complete;
its dictionary in the French language.
Forty Frenchmen times forty years
is not nine but 1600 years to complete.
Miracle miracle Johnson 1591 years defeats.
For what princely sum did Johnson contract
with William Strahan and printer associates;
a preeminent Dictionary in English to complete?
18 June 1746 in historic morning was signed
a project prestigious contact worth 1,500 guineas?
This sum of 1,500 guineas is
in pounds £1,575 equivalent
in 2012 to about £230,000.
A consortium of London's most
successful printers including Robert
Dodsley, Thomas Longman, would
finance a dictionary none could afford;
on such scale to undertake alone, thus was
contracted to be; a meticulous feat of legend.
Twas said 'the world contemplated
with wonder so stupendous a work achieved
by one man, while other countries
had thought such undertakings
fit only for whole academies'.'
OED took writers 70 years to complete.
Johnson's Dictionary unlike all proto-dictionaries;
earlier printed painstaking care exhibited
an exact completeness in illustrations definitions.
Upon bold title page was proud acknowledged;
Oxford had awarded Johnson a Master of Arts
degree in anticipation of so great an achievement.
This titanic marvel an unprecedented;
dictionary contained pages 18 inches
46 cm tall nearly 20 inches 50 cm wide.
Paper chosen was of the finest;
quality available running to a cost
of near £1,600 more than sum paid;
to Johnson to write what he pronounced
to be 'Vasta mole superbus' 'Proud
in its great bulk' a marvelous achievement.
No book this size except a few special editions;
of the Bible had even been set to type thus
no single bookseller could this book hope to print.
With pride Dr Samuel Johnson proclaims his;
'A Dictionary of the English Language' as words
deduced from their originals illustrated;
in their different significations by examples;
from the best writers to which he had prefixed
an English Grammar a history of the language.
Revolutionary genius Johnson's important;
innovation was to illustrate the meanings
of words with famous English literary quotations;
approximately 114,000 by the best writers;
Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden were authors
by Johnson most frequently included cited.
The colossal work each copy cost £4/10/- equivalent;
to £675 in 2005, a small fortune, so exorbitant an amount,
that five editions and thirty years later only copies 6,000;
had been sold averaging 200 books a year for thirty years.
Publication universal appreciation a standing ovation heralds
honours innovative content and Johnson's efforts to create it.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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