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If the ancient Greeks were one-hero dramatists, then so be it. In the rest of the world, there could be as many as the dramatists cared to write parts for.
:-)
he made attempts to teach the local cows to respond to calls in Latin;
Worthy project, yes? :-)
to those regarded as less fortunate
Ever an upperclass, even middle class, fault of perception.
he was breveted
had to look it up.
By that—fixing has been a term of lexicographical jargon ever since—they meant establishing the limits of the language, creating an inventory of its word stock, forging its
cosmology, deciding exactly what the language was.
Their considered view of the nature of English was splendidly autocratic: The tongue, they insisted, had by the turn of the seventeenth century become sufficiently refined and pure that it could only remain static or else thenceforward deteriorate.
Oh for gawd's sake! Just the opposite I submit.
they knew to be both eager and broke,
great motivation :-)
choosing the 118,000 illustrative quotations (sometimes by committing the heresy
of changing quotes he didn’t like).
What, editorial license?? I guess, yes, exactly. :-)
Under the definition of patron he had written “a wretch who supports with indolence, and is paid with flattery”.
LOVE it! And this dictionary currently is available online, which I find delightful!! I am thinking about looking up one word a day. :-)
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=patron
The quotes on patron at least are wonderful to this English major here. :-)
“No, Madam, I hope I have not daubed my fingers,” he replied, archly. “I find, however, that you have been looking for them.”
lol!
And the heart of such a dictionary, he went on, should be the history of the life span of each and every word.
The English, who had raised eccentricity and poor organization to a high art, and placed the scatterbrain on a pedestal,
:-)
asylum, the sole definition that was available at the time was quite innocent in its explanation. The meaning was to be found in Johnson’s dictionary, naturally: “A place out of which he that has fled to it, may not be taken.”
splendidly sensationalized, with the kind of lurid, multilayered headline that has sadly gone almost out of fashion.
