Words Die. Deal With It.

Monday, 05 September 2011

Today is Labor Day, so if you’re a woman, make sure you stop wearing white until next spring.

What better way to spend labor day than working on our home(s)? More packing…more moving.

I’m kind of disappointed with how much work rose bushes require. Everyday we go to our new place, the bushes look positively parched and, in the 10 days (or so) that they’ve belonged to me, they haven’t exactly flourished. Owen and I set the hose underneath each bush this afternoon, letting the water drain out onto the roots for 20+ minutes each time. I’m kind of split on this matter. On the one hand, rose bushes are pretty. On the other hand, if a plant requires that much care from me, then maybe they aren’t meant to live on the south side of a home in Minnesota.

Also: my wife has added a blog post detailing Isla’s first birthday. Click and enjoy!

Tuesday, 06 September 2011

The big news today is that Owen began first grade.

This year, his school is beginning to implement free breakfast for all students. I think this is a great idea, and if my college was serious about students receiving a quality education, I think they would initiate free breakfast as well. (I know, I know, it all boils down to money. But believe you me – Hamline is not cash-strapped.)

The system was a little chaotic this morning, but I give the school lots of leeway on day one. The menu listed a hot item, but all the food was cold. Owen had two choices of beverage (milk or OJ), two varieties of cold cereal, a bag of apple slices, yogurt, a bag of cinnamon-flavored cookies, and a granola bar. The woman who normally collects payment during lunch was at her post, but instead of taking money, she checked to make sure each child had what they needed; she reminded Owen to get a napkin and spoon.

After getting his breakfast together, Owen and I walked back to his new classroom and he sat at his desk and began eating. In all my years of compulsory education, I never, ever ate in the classroom. The only exception was when the birthday boy or girl would show up with a cake but, there again, I didn’t partake.

So now I’m wondering how this will go – what if Owen or one of his classmates spills their cereal onto the carpet? Will have drunk OJs and rotting apple slices stink up the garbage during the day? I’m sure they’ve thought about all this, but I hope it goes well.

Wednesday, 07 September 2011

Here’s an article on the death of reference books.

I absolutely love reference books. At the book store and the library, it’s the section I gravitate too. When I was a kid and people asked me what books were my favorite, I would say reference (or sometimes I’d say “general knowledge”). I loved those books – like encyclopedias, the Guinness Book, The Book of Lists, and The Top 10 of Everything, that attempted to encapsulate human knowledge into a single tome. Sure, if I wanted a deeper understanding of, say, astronomy, I’d have to look elsewhere, but for a topical overview – a quick reference – there were no better books. So, it should be obvious that I should mourn the loss of reference books.

To an extent, I do. However, another part of me wonders: Why purchase a reference book on the Presidents (for example) when everything I’d want to know about them is online? See, if reference books were declining in popularity due to a decline in American literacy or a rise in idiocracy, then I’d be sad. But when the old form has simply been replaced with a superior form, then I don’t care as much.

Granted, reference books have their place. I still keep dictionaries around the home(s) and office. If I’m reading a book and I don’t know a word, it’s much easier to look up a word in the old Webster’s, than to boot up the computer, open the internet, hope I have a good connection, and then type in the word. But even given that, the above cited article is just stupid.

Author John Walsh says this regarding the supposed superiority of print reference materials:

It’s precisely the kind of detail you’ll find in a dictionary – and only in a paper dictionary with words on pages. There’s shibboleth, and its fascinating etymology, in the current OED, and in my 10th-edition Chambers. But if I look it up online, on www.dictionary.cambridge.org, I’m given only the definition.

…Um, here’s your problem idiot: you only visited to one website. If anything, this shows the superiority of online resources; if your print dictionary doesn’t have what you’re looking for, then you’re out of luck, but if a website doesn’t have what you need, you can easily go to another website.

He also bizarrely lambastes one Collins’ website for stating that their next print dictionary will omit several words that are no longer used. This is another point for online sources: since there are no space constraints, online dictionaries don’t have to ever remove any words.

Walsh then next complains that there are new words coming into existence! Does this man not know that language evolves? And that English, perhaps more than any other language in history, grabs words from all over the globe? I don’t care if you’re 19 or 91 – you will sound like an old fart if you complain about new things for no other reason than because they are new. Oh no! “Retweet” is now a word! Oh my god! What is civilization coming to? And no one is using “Victrola” anymore! For shame!

Walsh then gives himself away by inferring that new words and online media don’t give him the same nostalgia as old words and print media. That, pretty much, negates all his other arguments. But I appreciate the delayed honesty.