Lexicographer

I really like words. Yesterday was the birthday of Sir James Murray, the lexicographer who wrote more than half the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED for those in the industry). I'd never want that guy's job, but I'm sure glad he did it.

Language is one of my passions. It's so pregnant with potential. Without words, we can't really even have thought. I wonder how many words haven't been invented yet. How many new concepts have yet to enter into our consciousness?

There are those that want to remove words like "better," "excellent," "wonderful," and "best" from our vocabulary and replace them with "good," "plus good" and "double plus good." The scary thing is that the elimination of words begins with synonyms and continues with any word that might be subjectively offensive.

As words are eliminated, so is our ability to think and communicate. The control of language results in the control of society.