WEBVTT - How did Reference Books Shape Civilization? (And what will their death mean?) 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.400 Guess what, mango, what's that? Will? I need to give 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:03.920 you a heads up because I think I'm going to 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.320 start using the word snollygastar a lot more of what snollygoster? 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.440 You know, the term for an unprincipled but shrewd person. 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.120 So I have no idea where you're talking about. Well, 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.880 let's go back to two thousand three. Snolly gostar got 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.480 kicked out of the dictionary, which is just ridiculous. So 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.520 there was this huge campaign to bring it back. And 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.120 the thing is, if enough people keep using it, the 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.320 editor of the Webster's Dictionary said he'd consider adding it 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.000 back in. In fact, the word chad was on the 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.640 shortlist to get kicked out too, and then infamous Florida 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.559 election debaccle occurred and suddenly the word was back. So 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:39.199 what you're saying is we just have to interfere with 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.840 an election or something similarly big to get the words 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.479 snollygoster back into play. Yeah, I mean, you know, look, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.640 there there are no bad ideas and brainstorming, but getting 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.960 a sneak peek at how the dictionary works is just 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.800 part of today's show. Today we're diving into the weird 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.560 world of reference from almanacs to encyclopedias, all to get 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.720 a better look at the human fascination for cataloging knowledge 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:05.440 in the delightfully skimmable way. So let's dig in, ye 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.360 he their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.399 Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.520 friend man guest Shot Ticketer. And on the other side 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.320 of the soundproof glass the only person I know who's 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.360 reading the Dictionary cover to cover, and actually he's already 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.120 reviewed it on good Reads. That's our friend and producer 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.600 Tristan McNeil. Yeah, and he actually gave it a scathing review. 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.600 He found the whole thing disjointed, and uh, he didn't 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.120 like how the art vark at the beginning of the 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.120 book didn't show up later in the story. I get it, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.880 I get it. He's he's a pretty tough judge. Well, 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.640 speaking of dictionaries, today's show is all about the weird 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.240 world of reference books. You know, from a young age 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:00.480 most of us are trained to turn to diction areas 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.360 or the sauruses and all these other reference books for 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:07.240 our linguistic and grammatical needs. But how did these exhaustive 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.839 reference books come to be? Why are there so many 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.200 competing versions? And just how relevant are they in today's 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.080 increasingly digital world. So these are the kinds of questions 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.960 we're gonna be tackling today, right, And the start things off, 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.760 I thought we could look at the granddaddy of all 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:25.560 reference books, the encyclopedia. So it's encyclopedia the oldest. Like people, 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.560 it seems like people would have started with dictionaries though, right, yeah, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.680 that's what I would have guessed too. I mean, like 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.560 the idea of cataloging all of the current words seems 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:35.919 to be way easier than I don't know, like trying 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.360 to record every single thing ever known. But that's not 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.520 where humans chose to begin. So the first encyclopedias can 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.400 be traced back to ancient Syria in twelve seventy b c. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.680 It wasn't called an encyclopedia in those days. In fact, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:50.760 the word encyclopedia didn't come in to use until the 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.440 fifteen hundreds, and that word is a Latinized take on 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.160 this ancient Greek phrase for general education. But the more 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.840 interesting definition is literal one, which is training in a circle. 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.639 So why a circle? I mean, were these encyclopedias around 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.640 or something? No, so the circle was this common symbol 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.240 for the liberal arts, like the seven areas of arts 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.400 and sciences that were deemed necessary for making a well 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.080 rounded person. All right, well, that's a good title, But 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.160 it is funny to think of an encyclopedia as everything 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.400 you need to know, especially when you consider some of 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.040 the weird stuff that wound up in the really early ones. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.320 So what are you talking about. One of the most 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.960 famous early encyclopedias is the one as symboled in the 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.440 first century a d by the Roman naturalists Pliny the Elder, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.400 and it's full of information that's hilarious but maybe not 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.280 so reputable. So despite calling his epic thirty seven book 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:44.040 Encyclopedia the Historia Naturalists or natural history, Pliny had some 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.120 questionable ideas about the inner workings of the human body, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.760 and one of the funniest examples is his woeful misunderstanding 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.280 of women's bodies and specifically periods. So I'm going to 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.120 read how he describes it. He says, on the approach 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.520 of a woman in this state, seeds which you're touched 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.960 by her comes sterile garden plants are parched up, and 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.680 the fruit will fall from the tree beneath which she said, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.000 her very look will dim the brightness of mir hers, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.400 blunt the edge of steel, and take away the polish 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.480 from ivory. A swarm of bees, if looked upon by her, 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.560 will die immediately. Brass and iron will instantly become rusty 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.600 and admit an offensive odor, while dogs, which may have 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.440 tasted of the matter so discharged, are seized with madness, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.760 and their bite is venomous and incurable. Well, I don't 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.640 know about you, but it sounds like Pliny was a 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.120 real feminist. Had he even met a woman like it 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:36.240 feels like it would be so easy to disprove all 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.440 of the stuff I know. But that wasn't the only 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.240 inaccuracy in Pliny's books, you know. For example, he provided 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:45.080 one of the earliest descriptions of unicorns. So Pliny wrote, 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.600 the unicorn is the fiercest animal, and it has said 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.280 that it is impossible to capture one alive. It has 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.120 the body of a horse, the head of a stag, 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.640 the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.560 and a single black horn three ft long in the 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.159 middle of its forehead. I'm glad you gave everyone like 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.359 a definitive account of what a unicorn. Looks like the 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.960 only party got right with the horn part right nailed 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.560 it on that though, But really, I mean, I don't 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.680 think we should pick on the Romans too much, because 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.200 when Encyclopedia has finally made their leave to England in 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.600 seventeen sixty eight, they were still cramed full of like 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.600 terrible fictional entries. So seventeen sixty eight is actually the 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.800 year the Encyclopedia Britannica was first made. It was assembled 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.279 by three Scottish men and it consisted of just three 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.400 volumes at the time. So nowadays the first edition is 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.200 mostly interesting as kind of a record of people's priorities 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.800 in the eighteenth century and just how little does line 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.800 up with our own? So what do you mean by that? 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:44.760 So the encyclopedia includes forty pages about horse disease, there 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.320 is no information about children, and only four words on 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.520 on the entry for women. Well, I mean, after that 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.479 Pliny description, I'm almost afraid to ask, but what were 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.599 those four words? It's it's super definitive the female of man. 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.360 I mean, I guess I see what you mean about 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.320 skewed priorities on this. I mean, it's ridiculous. They took 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.000 the time to calculate the exact number of animal species 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.320 that were on Noah's Ark, but they couldn't spend more 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.560 than four words on half the human population. But did 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.600 they really record how many animals were on Noah's Ark? Yeah, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.240 apparently there were a hundred seventy seven, which also doesn't 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.359 seem right right. But there's some entries where, you know, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:23.720 you kind of have to give it to the Scots 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.400 for creativity. So there's one for the cure of flatulence 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.560 that they say consists of drinking cammill t and then uh, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.359 blowing pipe smoke up your bomb. Or the entry on 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.200 Vermicelli noodles is amazing is described as a food and 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.760 great vogue with the Italians due to its use as 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.600 an aphrodisiac. Uh. You know, I was actually looking at 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.719 this edition as well, and one of the entries I 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.960 love from that first Encyclopedia Britannica is the one on California. Now, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.120 just for the record, the region wouldn't become a state 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.200 for close to a hundred years after this publication, so 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.880 really not much was known about it. But they didn't 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.640 even bother to spell check the thing. So California is 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.120 mistakenly spelled with two els. Also, it's referred to as 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.120 quote a large country of the West Indies unknown whether 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.560 it's an island or a peninsula or neither maybe, But 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.600 I mean you kind of have to love their confidence, 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.480 right And also as funny as accidental inaccuracies can be, 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.600 I actually still prefer the intentional ones. And I know 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.760 you and I have talked about this before, but editors 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.760 of reference books sometimes include fake entries as a means 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.000 of preventing plagiarism from their competitors. And the ideas if 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:31.760 you use a made up word and then that subject 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.240 appears in arrivals reference book, the originator can accuse the 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.040 other of poaching the entries, you know, which qualifies as 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.120 copyright infringement. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, and it is fascinating 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:42.640 to follow these things that you know, I know, in 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.960 an atlas they're called paper towns, you know, like the 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.800 places that are made up on maps. But so how 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.400 long has this been going on? So for at least 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.480 a century. In dictionaries and encyclopedias that are called Mount Weasels, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.800 which comes from a phony entry in the nine edition 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.400 of the New Columbia Encyclopedia. According to the original entry 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.080 on her, Lillian Virginia mount Weasel was an American photographer 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.640 who received a government grant to take pictures of rural mailboxes. Sadly, 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.680 Lillian died in a freak explosion while an assignment, where 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.640 the equally fictitious Combustibles magazine man This one's kind of 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.800 a shame though, that this one shouldn't be made up. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.800 I would totally read Combustibles Magazine. I know me too. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.320 But Lillian's story does have a happy ending of sorts. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.280 Like her imaginary life has since been commemorated in the 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.040 form of real Dictionary entries for the word mount weasel. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.080 That's pretty great, actually, I just pulled up a list 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.600 of mount weasels here, and there's some really good ones 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.760 out there. So we've got a Papula do balia, which 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.440 was this made up Greco Roman sports similar to modern soccer. 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.760 And this one actually maybe is my favorite. Esquavalience, which 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:51.000 is defined as a purposeful error made to easily spot plagiarizers. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.079 I love that. I feel like I missed a calling 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.040 just making up definitions for fake words, all right, So 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.840 there's obviously a ton more we could say about encyclopedias. 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.160 But since we're talking definitions, let's let's put the encyclopedia 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.200 back on the shelf and spend some time with what's 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.120 probably the most popular type of reference book, and that's, 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.320 of course, dictionaries. Just like with the idea of assembling 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.560 a compendium of knowledge, the concept of listing out all 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:15.760 the words in a given language is one that dates 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.320 back thousands of years. But for our purposes, let's stick 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.400 with the modern period of dictionaries. You know, when the 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.160 English version began cropping up around you know, say the 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.480 seventeenth century or so. And why is that. Well, the 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.160 number of words in the English language actually doubled between 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:33.000 fifteen hundred and sixteen fifty, and this was largely due 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.160 to the Renaissance, which brought a wealth of words derived 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.360 from Latin and Greek to British lips for the very 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.440 first time. But it was also a time when travelers 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.080 and traders from foreign countries were mingling new words into 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.080 Europe's vocabulary. So all these unfamiliar new words coupled with 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.800 the rise of printed books, it really set the stage 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.040 for the world's first English dictionary, and that came along 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.079 in sixteen oh, four complements of a schoolmaster named Robert Caudrey. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:59.040 It's so funny. They are all these names, I know, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.520 like Webster and Roget, but I've never heard of Caudrey. Yeah. Well, 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.720 you know Caudrey's table alphabetical, as he called it. It 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.240 wasn't exactly a general language dictionary. It's it's what's called 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.559 a hard word dictionary, and it basically provided easy to 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.400 understand definitions for all these new and difficult foreign words 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.680 which had kind of made their way into the English 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.199 language during the previous decades. That's really interesting. So when 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.760 did the first more general dictionary come about? The well, 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.640 the idea of a general dictionary for everyday words, it 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.520 kind of didn't catch on until maybe seventy or so 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.400 years later. And it was a man named Elisha Coles 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.599 who who published this dictionary that added regional terms. He 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.680 also added slang and just some other common words to 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.040 the existing slate of hard words from the previous books. Well, 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.320 I'm kind of glad you mentioned the inclusion of slang 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.800 because there's one slang dictionary in particular that I really 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:50.840 want to talk about. But before we get to that, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:11:06.200 let's take a quick break you're listening to part time genius, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:10.320 and we're talking about the surprisingly strange world of reference books. Now, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.600 most people are familiar by this point with the dictionary 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.160 makers like Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster, and you know, 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:18.800 for good reason. It was in seventeen fifty five that 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.839 Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was introduced as the 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.240 most comprehensive one to date. It was the very first 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.200 to use quotations to help illustrate how words could actually 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.600 be used. And then came Webster's Dictionary that was published 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.800 in eighteen twenty eight, and it was one of the 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:38.160 first lexicons to include definitions of more than ten thousand americanisms. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.960 These had never been included in the British dictionaries, you know, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.319 where it's like skunk and squash and chowder. And the 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.400 book was a product of more than two decades of 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.120 work and was crucial in helping standardize English spelling, things 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.079 like dropping the U and color for instance. But you know, 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.720 as important as these contributions where there there's a different 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.840 story that you were saying you wanted to tell today, right, 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.120 And I go, yeah, so those guys are great, and 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.839 it isn't an exaggeration to say our language wouldn't be 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.360 the same without them. But they're not the only one 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:07.200 that's true of And that's why I want to make 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.679 sure we talked about the Hepster Dictionary, which is a 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.120 compendium of Harlem slang that's believed to be the first 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:16.360 dictionary written by an African American. Oh wow, I've actually 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.720 never heard of this. So who's the author? So that's 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:20.280 one of the really cool things about it. It was 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.120 written by Cat Callaway, who's you know, the legendary jazz 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.679 musicians and band leader you could also do the moonwalk. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.600 And by the way, he retired in Delaware because you know, 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.800 it was a short train ride from Baltimore and New 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:33.640 York City. Glad you were able to work in your 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.280 Delaware factory. Yeah, But in the ninety twenties and thirties, 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.160 Cab Callaway was this mainstay in the Harlem music scene, 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.280 and the neighborhood had become a center of African American culture, 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.800 you know, with the Harlem Renaissance and all that. And 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.360 as Aaron Blakemore put it in her article on history 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.440 dot Com, quote Harlem was full of slang. Jazz musicians 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.319 like Callaway talk jive a kind of shorthand that turned 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.080 ordinary conversation into an extended, jazzy riff. It was also 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.760 a matter of survive. Though it was spoken in public, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.480 it was a way for African Americans to communicate privately, 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.560 a kind of linguistic rebellion that was as serious as 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.760 it was humorous. That's pretty awesome and so obviously Callaway 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.240 was familiar with jive, But how did he come to 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.439 write the Dictionary on it? Well, his songs were full 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.320 of words and phrases that eventually wound up in the 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.840 dictionary and gave actually jotted down a few of these 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:26.160 for me, like cool Groovy, Chick, moocher, Boogie Woogie, jitterbug, 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.600 and come again. There's all you know, we're used by him. 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:30.720 But but the idea to compile all of them in 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.559 print came in the late thirties when Cab Callaway noticed 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.240 that black musicians were being pushed aside by white swing 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.360 musicians and they kind of co opted the sound. So 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.120 to keep himself in the culture, he helped pioneer relevant. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.160 Cab and his manager worked together on this slender pamphlet 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.439 that defined jib for audiences who had never heard the 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.319 streets Lang before it was published in eight I believe, 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.400 and and it became a hit with both black and 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.800 white readers, And in fact, he did seven volumes of 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.440 the thing, and it even became the official reference book 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.600 of Jive and the New York Public Library, which was 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.480 something Cab was immensely proud of. Yeah, and I love that, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.439 you know, even though it seems to have indirectly saddled 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.600 us with the the you know, the hipsters of today, 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.760 It's it's so great that Callaway chronicled that moment in 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.880 black culture, and the Harlem Renaissance was soon eclipsed by 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.000 the Great Depression. So you know, we're pretty lucky to 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.280 have all that culture and not have it lost to 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.280 history exactly. And I actually heard this BBC interview with 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.600 a British poet about cabs dictionary, and he had this 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.480 really great insight about it. As he put it, quote, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.680 Cab Callaway was taking ownership of language for people who 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.440 just a few generations before had their own languages taken away. 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:38.960 Oh yeah, I mean I haven't thought of that. But 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.360 you know, since since we're talking about how dictionaries come together, 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.240 I do want to talk a little bit about what 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.680 it takes to get a new word added to the dictionary, 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:48.720 because there is a process to it, and it's one 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.120 that we don't hear about often. I mean, sure, we 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:52.880 hear about the list of the new words that Miriam 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.840 Webster adds with each new addition, or at least more 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.240 decidedly modern additions, you know, things like crowdsourcing and man 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.440 spread or even o MG which was added, But you know, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.520 you don't hear much about how these new words are 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.840 actually chosen to be included. Yeah, that's a good point. 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:11.160 So first of all, who does decide what gets added? Well, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.760 that's left up to the lexicographers and and for anyone 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.040 who doesn't have their own reference book handy. Those are 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.320 the people whose job it is to compile dictionaries. They 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.560 pay attention to whenever a new word or phrase becomes popular, 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.840 and then they start collecting citations of the word, including 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.560 its contextual meaning. They comb through this database to find 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.080 evidence that the word has cropped up over time among 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.240 this diverse group of people, and when that big case 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.840 file is assembled, the last step is for the dictionary 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.200 editors to review the evidence and decide whether or not 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.520 to include the new word and the next edition of 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.240 their company's dictionary. So it basically boils down to like 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.960 popularity and usage, which makes sense. But what about the 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.280 words we removed from the dictionary? Is it really just 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.440 a matter of determining how many people are still using 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.640 a certain word? Well, that's where things get a little 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.720 bit more complicated. You know. The way it works is 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:00.800 that the editors try to determine and which words are 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.440 most relevant today, and then then they go back and 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.000 weed out the ones that are most definitely not being 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.920 used as much today. So editors might assemble a list 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.480 of potential cuts. You've got obscure words like crunch or 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.840 pro land or octandrias that have all then cut from 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:21.640 the dictionary. Crunch like crunchy, wrench dressing. Oh that's cross. 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.560 I think it's a loud noise or actually I found 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.440 a Scottish reference book that said it's an alternative for crunch, 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.440 which is to crunch with your mouth. Apparently, I don't 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.040 know why we need another word for that, but it's 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.080 no longer in the dictionary, so you really don't have 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:36.880 to worry about it at this point. I like that 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.760 there's crunch, cringe, and crunch. Yeah, you just need to crunch. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.560 But I interrupted. You were talking about how words get 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.360 tossed from the dictionary, right, So, so the editors have 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:49.840 a list of words that aren't used that often, and 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.640 then they search through sources like Google books or other 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.560 dictionaries and of course the Internet, and they try to 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.320 see how frequently these words turn up. And they're always 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.760 exceptions to you know, for example, the and thou don't 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.000 really pop up much in everyday conversation anymore. But since 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.080 they're so prevalent in all these widely read books, they're 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.040 pretty safe from the chopping blot. Okay, that makes sense. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.600 And I actually remember reading this book word Freak by 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.959 Steven fatsis about the world of competitive scrabble, and one 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:19.600 of the things I remember best from it was these 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.000 people who would petition to have words put back into 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.520 the dictionary. They were just these word lovers who would 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:26.760 spend their free time, I mean, when they weren't dominating 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.760 at scrabble, just fighting to have words reintegrated into the 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.600 English language. But here's my question, like, why target words 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.879 for removal at all? Is it just to save on 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.359 printing costs? And I think the bigger concern is that 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.400 the dictionary will become too massive and unwilldy to use 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:45.080 if nothing is ever omitted from it. But practicality isn't 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.760 even the only reason that words get cut. I mean, 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.320 if you think about it, there are plenty of online 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.840 dictionaries that don't have to worry about the space that 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.560 they take up, But they don't include every single word 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.159 from English language either, and that's largely because most dictionaries 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.600 are trying to present the current state of semantics, you know, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.600 the words that most typify our language and kind of 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.919 in the here and now if you think about it. So, 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.000 you know, the only exception I could think of is 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.960 the Oxford English Dictionary, like the o e D, which 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.800 is more concerned with chronicling and preserving English and its entirety. 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:17.880 And to that end, the o e D doesn't remove 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.640 words or definitions. Instead, they just know when a particular 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.200 word or meeting is outdated. Yeah, yeah, that that is 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.360 an interesting exception to this. Well, you know, as long 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.600 as we're talking about the intentions behind reference books, I 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.120 feel like we should go ahead and cover the other 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.240 two biggies of the reference world, and those would be 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.159 the stars and almanacs. Yeah, but before we do that. 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:46.760 Let's take a quick break. Okay, Mango, it's quiz time. 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:48.960 I know we're talking reference books today, so we thought 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:50.679 it would be appropriate to bring in one of our 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.640 favorite podcasters here at How Stuff Works and someone known 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.720 for doing an intense amount of research before any of 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.640 his episodes. Scott Benjamin. Welcome to Part Time Genius. Thank 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:01.439 you for men. I appreciate it. You guys may know 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.359 Scott from Car Stuff, and that's what I have to admit. 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.200 You sit right across from us in the office, and 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.760 when we look over and see these stacks of research, 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.360 it kind of makes us feel like maybe we're not 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.880 doing enough. I feel like I I read at least 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.240 two books, give a bunch of books for for every episode, 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.920 and then I see this, like like half a meter 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.000 high stack of papers that they're just giving through dreams 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.120 of paper. I do it the old school way, I guess. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.080 I'm I'm I'm an analog guy, right, so, um, I 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.520 don't bring a laptop in with me to podcasts, which 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.240 I think almost everybody does. Yeah, everything is on paper. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.840 I've got color coded tabs, I've got notes everywhere. It's 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.600 a it's kind of a mess, but it's a mess 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.440 that I know how to work with. Wow, I thought 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.720 maybe it was an intimidation tactic. Do I remember this 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.160 story correctly? That there was a legend about Karl Rove, 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.280 like when he was on the debate team in high 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:54.679 school and he would wheel in this huge cart with 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.600 all of these containers full of where they were supposed 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.040 to be full of index cards, right that notes. It 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.600 was just an intimidation tactic. And it turns out that 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.119 most of them were just blank, but they were just 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.439