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The Demise of the Dictionary; Printed Page: 0, Internet: 3,498,785,994,322,109
by Josh Clark
July 10, 2009
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It must suck to be old right now. Even during generations with the most modest of cultural change — say, the 1950s — the elderly tend to be wary of the younger, at the very least because they can run fast and punch much harder and pay little attention to signs that say things like “Stay off the Grass.” Tough-talking youths and robots: They make the aged uneasy. There’s a word for it; ephebiphobia — the irrational fear of young people.
Compared to what little the aged had to deal with in the 50s, it must be intensely terrifying to be old today. The 21st century has panned out, so far, to most decidedly be a young person’s world. Case in point: The AP rolled out its annual fluff piece about new words that have made it through the editorial gauntlet and into the pages of Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. Older people following traditional media had a chance to learn that locavore and frenemy await them when they receive the newest edition of M-W this upcoming holiday season. So now they’re in the know.
The thing is, other word definition outlets have quietly developed alongside and under the radar of the lumbering old giants that formerly maintained exclusive sway over what are acceptably considered words within the English language. What deregulated the territory held Merriam-Webster and other acknowledged keepers of the language is, of course, the protracted, blood-spattered death of the printed page. It’s simply too slow to keep up.
Take locavore. It’s making its first appearance in Merriam-Webster’s 2009 New Collegiate Dictionary. Online, it’s a different story. Three perfectly acceptable definitions for the word appears on Urban Dictionary; the earliest entry was posted in September 2006, the latest in January 2008. Protracted death.
So terrifying indeed it must be to know that soon one will lose the comfort afforded by slowly carressing a huge, lumbering volume that assures its owner all is well; all words will be defined in due course. All the words that the editorial board decides are words.
More on HowStuffWorks.com:
How Fear Works
How Locavores Work
How Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Works
Comments
8 Responses to “The Demise of the Dictionary; Printed Page: 0, Internet: 3,498,785,994,322,109”
daniel cousins says: cool
harrisonambs says: “Back in my day, candy bars cost a nickel!”
“That’s great, grandpa. I have the entirety of human knowledge in my pocket. It also makes calls, too.”
I love progress. So very, very, very much.
Adam says: I’m only 25 and I’m already starting to notice I’m falling behind.
Maybe that’s partly due to my lack of desire to always have the newest gadget, but also because I can’t AFFORD to have every new gadget.
I upgrade about once every 3 years, or sooner if what I have breaks down before that.
Cheryl says: Adam brings up a good point. Will people in a lower socio-economic class be further shut out of society and advancemenmt becasue they cannot afford the gadgets most of us take for granted?
Will we see an economic evolutionary process? Only the well-connected will survive?
Michael says: Harrisonambs…You have far from the entirety of human knowledge in your pocket. The thing is, even if you did, you don’t use it. Look at how widely available knowledge is today, and instead our generation throws it down and rushes over to the newest shinny new toy so they can play games.
Sarasvatia says: Good point Cheryl. To which I might add:
Considering how the young folk like to point out the growing irrelevance, in their view, of the older generation, I wonder what is the word for fear of old people? If the world had no need for the young AND the old, and their very different perspectives and contributions, evolution would’ve taken care of that a very long time ago. To the young: look up the definition of: eugenics. Is that your future?
The pitching of the old v. the young is escalating to the point of intolerance. Cui bono? Watch “The Century of the Self” on Google Video and make up your own mind.
Time is a marker of convenience, not a determinant of reality.
Ephebiphobia – fear of your people? Hardly. Ephebe (Gk) denotes a boy. Girls, until recently, although trusted thru the ages, from the onset of puberty, to bear and raise children, were not considered a viable part of society; rather on par with cattle and things. It would appear that selective parochialism lives on.
Dustin says: I’m inclined to agree with Michael. With the abundance of information, and knowledge available to anyone in a w-fi hotspot, you would think that people would inevitably become more educated or at least in tune to what’s happening around the world. The opposite seems to be happening. In a video pole I saw on yahoo most of the people interviewed didn’t know who Sotomayor is or why her name is in the headlines. Most people can’t get ten questions correct on Jeopardy unless it’s the Teen Tournement week.
Abundance of information = decline in education.
I blame MTV myself.
Real time dictionaries. Technology is wonderful.