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Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
310 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1987
10 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Mary Daly
44 books160 followersMary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at Boston College, a Jesuit-run institution, for 33 years. Daly consented to retire from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 5, 2014
Classic Must Read of Lesbian Feminist Theory. Fun and highly entertaining.
June 29, 2007
Something between a dictionary and a manifesto, The Wickedary should be in the library of anyone who reads Mary Daly's work. The word-play is phenomenal, the book's structure embraces hypertext, and the definitions are wickedly delightful.
February 22, 2008
I had read a bunch of other Mary Daly and loved how she played with/reclaimed/invented words, so I was really looking forward to her Wickedary. It is structurally very confusing as a dictionary, because instead of going alphabetically she creates 'word webs' preceded by long prose passages.
When I was initially reading her stuff I thought she was really revolutionary in her approach and I know she had to prove her worth over and over again... I didn't see her anger so much as her creativity. As I look at it now ten years later I am struck by that anger and it is no longer exhilirating to me. She is as trapped by her own words as she was by the establishment she wanted to radicalize and extend. So while I still think this is a very cool concept and I admire her creativity in transforming the English language, I cannot say that it now has the effect on me of making me want to set the world on fire. Her words, while liberating, did not change mainstream English, so while I can appreciate and enjoy them, I will have to say they did not set me free.
When I was initially reading her stuff I thought she was really revolutionary in her approach and I know she had to prove her worth over and over again... I didn't see her anger so much as her creativity. As I look at it now ten years later I am struck by that anger and it is no longer exhilirating to me. She is as trapped by her own words as she was by the establishment she wanted to radicalize and extend. So while I still think this is a very cool concept and I admire her creativity in transforming the English language, I cannot say that it now has the effect on me of making me want to set the world on fire. Her words, while liberating, did not change mainstream English, so while I can appreciate and enjoy them, I will have to say they did not set me free.
January 30, 2013
I was lucky as a budding witch to find a copy of this. I began to think about the words I used in ritual in a whole new way. The concept of deciding how we interact with reality through speech is only now coming into study by modern chaos, memetic & mnemonic magicians. Ms. Daly, as always, ahead of us on the curve, pointing out the sights we shouldn't miss.
August 4, 2016
irreplaceably bracing!
June 27, 2025
A COLLECTION AND EXPANSION OF DALY’S VARIOUS 'NEW WORDS’
Mary Daly (1928-2010) was a radical feminist philosopher and theologian who taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years; she retired in 1999, after a discrimination claim was filed against the college by two male students who claimed to want to be admitted to her advanced Women’s Studies courses.
She wrote in the Preface of this 1987 book, “The word Wickedary, according to the Present work, is defined as ‘Archaic: Wicked/Wiccen dictionary…Metamysterious Web-Work Spun by Websters.’ … The Wickedary is a Metadictionary, that is, a ‘Metapatriarchal dictionary, written by Wicked/Wiccen Websters; dictionary that Gossips out the Elemental webs of words hidden in patriarchal dictionaries and other re-sources. Thus the Wickedary is an entirely new work. At the same time, it is Ancient/Archaic.” (Pg. xii-xv)
She explains in the first chapter, “The ‘Wickedary’ is a declaration that words and women have served the fathers’ sentences long enough. Websters ride the rhythms of Tidal Time, freeing words. Like birds uncaged, these Soundings rush and roar, seeking sister-vibrations. Wickedary words, when Heard, sound the signal that Tidal Time has come.” (Pg. 3)
Later, she adds, “Moreover, individual Elemental words Sound different, and they Sound differently than the bland replacements/replicants which pervade Boredom. Thus, when the New Word ‘[A-musing’ is Pronounced, it obviously is unlike the old word ‘amusing,’ and the Pronouncing of ’A-mazing’ demonstrates that it is not reducible to ‘amazing.’ Clearly, Gyn/Ecology does not sound like mere gynecology, nor does Croneology sound like chronology, for multilevel meanings are Heard and Said by Pronouncing Sibyls.” (Pg. 37)
Some examples from the Wickedary itself: “Pro-Life: … characterized by a commitment to QUALITY of Life and to freedom of choice to ensure that quality in all dimensions… This word has been stolen by anti-abortion crusaders who characteristically employ the patriarchal strategy of reversal.” (Pg 156)
"Academentia: a normal state of persons in academia, marked by varying degrees of varying and progressive degrees; irreversible deterioration of faculties intellectuals.” (Pg. 184)
"bull, papal: … Wholly, Holy baloney. Example: the papal bull of Innocent VIII… giving the support of Rome to ‘our dear sons,’ the Dominican inquisitors, Kramer and Sprenger, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum.” (Pg. 187)
"drag queen, pope John Paul Too: pop patriarch of the 1980s who uses the electronic media to proclaim his love for souls; granite-jawed, white-robed superstar who made his 1979 debut as visiting Queen of Heaven, con-descending upon continent after continent in his special airplane; champion of imprisonment in the family, fetal rights, and discreet Christian genocide. Male Mother of the decade.” (Pg. 195-196)
"fashion: … a primary means by which phallocratic fixers fix, tame, and train women for their own designs; the bad magic by which fakers attempt to destroy female consciousness, embedding contagious anxieties and cravings, trying to trap women in houses of correction/houses of mirrors.” (Pg. 198)
"full-osopher:… one who fails to seek wisdom, having deluded himself into believing that he possesses it; academically stuffed shirt.” (Pg. 202)
"fundamentalist:… one who sermonizes from the fundament, spreading the ‘word’; windbag; a bibliolater…” (Pg. 202)
"Painted Bird: symbol for the condition of women in the State of Possession who are full-filled with man-made-up self-images… a tokenized plasticized woman who is used to oppress her sisters; i.e., one who has been snatched from the Wild, domesticated, dolled up, and released only to function as ‘the ultimate weapon in the hands of the boys.’” (Pg. 214)
She adds in an appendix, “The man-dated world is clockracy---the society that is dead-set by the clocks and calendars of fathered time: it is marked by measurements that tick off women’s Lifetimes/Lifelines in tidy tidbits. It is the world of dismembered time, surgically sewn together to mimic and replace Total time. It is the society of tedious time spent under the tyranny of only demons---those projections/emanations of the tyrants who seek to impose tidy order, to tie women down, to stop the flow of each women’s creativity, cutting her off from her Genius/Demon/Muse.” (Pg. 279)
This book will be of great interest to fans of Daly’s creative use of language.
Mary Daly (1928-2010) was a radical feminist philosopher and theologian who taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years; she retired in 1999, after a discrimination claim was filed against the college by two male students who claimed to want to be admitted to her advanced Women’s Studies courses.
She wrote in the Preface of this 1987 book, “The word Wickedary, according to the Present work, is defined as ‘Archaic: Wicked/Wiccen dictionary…Metamysterious Web-Work Spun by Websters.’ … The Wickedary is a Metadictionary, that is, a ‘Metapatriarchal dictionary, written by Wicked/Wiccen Websters; dictionary that Gossips out the Elemental webs of words hidden in patriarchal dictionaries and other re-sources. Thus the Wickedary is an entirely new work. At the same time, it is Ancient/Archaic.” (Pg. xii-xv)
She explains in the first chapter, “The ‘Wickedary’ is a declaration that words and women have served the fathers’ sentences long enough. Websters ride the rhythms of Tidal Time, freeing words. Like birds uncaged, these Soundings rush and roar, seeking sister-vibrations. Wickedary words, when Heard, sound the signal that Tidal Time has come.” (Pg. 3)
Later, she adds, “Moreover, individual Elemental words Sound different, and they Sound differently than the bland replacements/replicants which pervade Boredom. Thus, when the New Word ‘[A-musing’ is Pronounced, it obviously is unlike the old word ‘amusing,’ and the Pronouncing of ’A-mazing’ demonstrates that it is not reducible to ‘amazing.’ Clearly, Gyn/Ecology does not sound like mere gynecology, nor does Croneology sound like chronology, for multilevel meanings are Heard and Said by Pronouncing Sibyls.” (Pg. 37)
Some examples from the Wickedary itself: “Pro-Life: … characterized by a commitment to QUALITY of Life and to freedom of choice to ensure that quality in all dimensions… This word has been stolen by anti-abortion crusaders who characteristically employ the patriarchal strategy of reversal.” (Pg 156)
"Academentia: a normal state of persons in academia, marked by varying degrees of varying and progressive degrees; irreversible deterioration of faculties intellectuals.” (Pg. 184)
"bull, papal: … Wholly, Holy baloney. Example: the papal bull of Innocent VIII… giving the support of Rome to ‘our dear sons,’ the Dominican inquisitors, Kramer and Sprenger, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum.” (Pg. 187)
"drag queen, pope John Paul Too: pop patriarch of the 1980s who uses the electronic media to proclaim his love for souls; granite-jawed, white-robed superstar who made his 1979 debut as visiting Queen of Heaven, con-descending upon continent after continent in his special airplane; champion of imprisonment in the family, fetal rights, and discreet Christian genocide. Male Mother of the decade.” (Pg. 195-196)
"fashion: … a primary means by which phallocratic fixers fix, tame, and train women for their own designs; the bad magic by which fakers attempt to destroy female consciousness, embedding contagious anxieties and cravings, trying to trap women in houses of correction/houses of mirrors.” (Pg. 198)
"full-osopher:… one who fails to seek wisdom, having deluded himself into believing that he possesses it; academically stuffed shirt.” (Pg. 202)
"fundamentalist:… one who sermonizes from the fundament, spreading the ‘word’; windbag; a bibliolater…” (Pg. 202)
"Painted Bird: symbol for the condition of women in the State of Possession who are full-filled with man-made-up self-images… a tokenized plasticized woman who is used to oppress her sisters; i.e., one who has been snatched from the Wild, domesticated, dolled up, and released only to function as ‘the ultimate weapon in the hands of the boys.’” (Pg. 214)
She adds in an appendix, “The man-dated world is clockracy---the society that is dead-set by the clocks and calendars of fathered time: it is marked by measurements that tick off women’s Lifetimes/Lifelines in tidy tidbits. It is the world of dismembered time, surgically sewn together to mimic and replace Total time. It is the society of tedious time spent under the tyranny of only demons---those projections/emanations of the tyrants who seek to impose tidy order, to tie women down, to stop the flow of each women’s creativity, cutting her off from her Genius/Demon/Muse.” (Pg. 279)
This book will be of great interest to fans of Daly’s creative use of language.
March 12, 2018
It's been so many years since I revisited Daly's epic love poem to language, feminism and philosophy, I'm afraid to rate it higher. There were no doubt huge blind spots in my and her perspectives that I prefer to leave in the past. But as I was recently looking for a quote from it (a be-spelled definition) it seemed fair to acknowledge how much I once loved it and it has an important place in our and my history.
July 3, 2019
This is a really provocative approach to pointing out and attempting to address the ways that patriarchy is built into our language and I learned a few things that will stick with me along time. But it’s hard to read a dictionary and there are some unfortunate transphobic digressions
April 29, 2019
A feminist dictionary of the English language. How awesome is that?!
December 13, 2024
It's not that I disagree with the project, it's just that this is sooooo far from my sensibilities. Mostly thought the word games were tedious rather than revolutionary. An interesting piece of feminist history/historiography. 2.5 rounded down.
Read
March 5, 2008really really fun book: daly and co-writer take words and play games with them, around the themes of feminism. word-game-alicious with new takes on themes that make your head spin! i take it in, sift out the generalizations of "all men..." and suck on the new word ideas.
April 18, 2008
Biting and delicious, sarcastic sassin' of the man, a feminist Devil's Dictionary, I love it so!
Want to read
May 2, 2011trade paper good condition
Read
January 21, 2012Fun approach.
Read
April 20, 2019A must read!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews