HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-01-15, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009. PAGE 5.
Bonnie
Gropp
TThhee sshhoorrtt ooff iitt
Age doesn’t matter
D ictionaries are like watches; the worst
is better than none, and the best
cannot be expected to go quite true.
– Samuel Johnson
I’ve got at least seven dictionaries scattered
around my house. I’m talking about general,A
to Z, look-up-a-word dictionaries.
I’ve also got a slew of arcane, so-called
dictionaries on everything from pre-Cambrian
geology to conversational Hawaiian.
But those seven general word dictionaries
are my babies. I’ve got the Gage Canadian and
the Random House Webster; the Coles
Concise English and the Oxford Essential
Desk Reference.
I’ve even got the granddaddy of all English
dictionaries – The Oxford Unabridged. That’s
the one that comes in two hernia-inducing
volumes crammed with type so fine you have
to read it with a magnifying glass.
Which is ‘way too much trouble, even for a
word freak like me. Betcha I haven’t cracked
my OED in five years.
I don’t revere my dictionaries; I use them
like a farmer uses baling wire. Dictionaries
are my workbench, my toolbox, my potting
shed.
Not to mention my hardcore addiction. I’m
with Alfred Jay Nock who said: “As sheer
casual reading matter, I still find the English
dictionary the most interesting book in our
language.”
That said, there is one dictionary that will
never come through my front door. It’s called
the Oxford Junior Dictionary.
No loss – it was never intended for me
anyway. It’s aimed at children, aged seven or
older.
But if I was a parent – or teacher – of young
children, I’d be very worried about that.
The latest edition has just hit the bookstores
and it’s caused a bit of a fuss. Not so much for
what’s between its covers, as for what’s been
left out.
You will not find the word ‘aisle’among the
OJD’s 10,000 entries. Nor will you find ‘altar’,
‘vicar’or ‘minister’. ‘Disciple’is missing, as is
‘pulpit’ and ‘parish’; ‘monk’ and ‘nun’.
Why the anti-religious slant? Vineeta Gupta,
the person in charge of children’s’dictionaries
at Oxford University Press, explains:
“Nowadays…we are much more multicultural.
People don’t go to church as often as before.
Our understanding of religion is within
multiculturalism, which is why some words
such as ‘Pentecost’ or ‘Whitsun’ would have
been in 20 years ago, but not now.”
I suppose Pentecost and Whitsun are a little
dated – but ‘bishop’? ‘Psalm’? ‘Carol’?’
‘Saint’? ‘Devil’? You won’t find those in the
Oxford Junior Dictionary either.
Not that the book restricts itself to
theological assaults. It’s not fond of
imperialism either. Thus, coronation, duchess,
duke, emperor and monarch will not be found
in its pages.
Harry Potter fans won’t be pleased.
Neither ‘dwarf’nor ‘elf’nor ‘goblin’made the
cut.
And should an inquisitive child wish to
know about mosses and ferns, said child will
have to consult some source other than the
Oxford Junior Dictionary. The book pretty
much dismisses the natural world in favour of
the Brave New one.
“When you look back at older versions of
dictionaries,” explains Ms Gupta, “there were
lots of examples of flowers…because many
children lived in semi-rural environments and
saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment
has changed.”
Sure has if you go by the Oxford Junior. No
buttercups in here, kiddies. Likewise no
carnation, clover, dandelion, gooseberry or
heather.
The animal world is similarly decimated.
No mention of beaver, goldfish, hamster,
leopard, raven or wren.
The world famous naturalist and painter,
Robert Bateman is appalled by the Oxford
Junior Dictionary.
“This is another nail in the coffin of human
beings being acquainted with nature,” he says.
Mind you, there are some words in the
Oxford Junior Dictionary that are missing
from my tomes. ‘Blog’is in the book. So are
‘voice mail’, ‘database’, and ‘MP3 player’.
But really – at the expense of losing words
like ‘violet’ and ‘willow’? No more ‘pelican’
or ‘porcupine’?
“We are looking at the loss of words of great
beauty,” says Anthony Seldon, headmaster of
Wellington College in Berkshire. “I would
rather have ‘marzipan’ and ‘mistletoe’ than
‘MP3 Player’”.
Of all my dictionaries, the one I use most is
Webster’s Third International. My copy is
huge – it’s also old. I rescued it from the Metro
Toronto Library discard bin back in the late
1960s.
And it contains about 465,000 more words
than the Oxford Junior Dictionary – several
thousand of which I have yet to savour.
No mention of ‘MP3 Player’ in its 2,263
pages.
But you should read the entry for
‘marzipan’.
Arthur
Black
Other Views Addicted to dictionaries
T here is another debate on leadership
going on in Ontario and it is nowhere
as dull as some make out.
Toronto news media mostly have been so
consumed by the uncertain future of John Tory
as leader of the Progressive Conservatives, the
larger opposition party, they have taken as
much interest in the race for New Democrat
leader as they might in a contest for mayor of
Moosonee.
One journalist on a TV panel looking at
prospects for 2009 sniffed the NDP race is
“one of the most boring in history” and
another lamented it has “little of the life, spark
or conflict usually found in Conservative
leadership campaigns.”
It is true no contestant has called another a
pale, pink imitation of a Liberal, as a rival
called Ernie Eves, who went on to become
premier, in one recent Conservative race for
leader.
But the NDP race has produced worthwhile
ideas, including the bravest from an Ontario
politician in years, and jostling that reveals
these comrades have differences, although
mostly they stick together like Krazy Glue.
The bravest idea came from Michael Prue,
who said the NDP needs to review all its
policies and this includes its support for
funding Roman Catholic schools.
The Conservatives under Tory were soundly
defeated for proposing to expand funds to
schools of other faiths in the 2007 election and
this also emphasized the province funds only
Catholic and not other faith-based schools.
It also has made funding for Catholics
increasingly difficult to justify and revived
calls for a single, non-religious public system,
which many Catholics would resist and most
politicians would not dare even to broach.
Prue says he is not advocating a single
system, but politicians have avoided
discussing this issue. It is time they faced it
and he deserves praise for being willing to
look at it.
Prue also would give residents power to de-
amalgamate huge regional municipalities
forced on them by successive provincial
governments, which would please many,
because they have increased costs.
Gilles Bisson has proposed the almost
revolutionary policy the NDP should not
promise programs until it can demonstrate
how it would pay for them. He said his party
has to place as much emphasis on how to
improve the economy to fund programs as it
does on social policies.
Bisson sounded like the man from the
chamber of commerce when he said many
entrepreneurs lack capital to produce what
they invent and an NDP government should
offer them “backstop loans” guaranteeing part
of what they borrow from banks.
Andrea Horwath is proposing the province
prevent property developers from launching
massive lawsuits against residents who oppose
and delay projects that threaten to stifle
opposition.
Horwath has promised to shake up the NDP
saying it needs new voices. She sounds a lot
like candidates in U.S. presidential elections,
who say Washington has lost contact with
ordinary people.
Peter Tabuns, the last to enter, echoes the
same theme. The party needs inspiration, hope
and a bigger vision. He wants to create a new
“energy economy” that will provide jobs by
building new ways to save energy.
One sign this is not a party motivated
entirely by brotherly love is that Paul Miller,
one of its brightest new MPPs, is not
supporting fellow Hamiltonian Horwath. He
says he does not endorse people according to
where they live.
He supports Prue, he says, because he will
do the best job and win the most seats. He and
Horwath “have a little history and I hope she
understands the situation.”
Horwath retorted icily “Paul has to make the
decisions Paul has to make and at the end of
the day I will become leader.”
Cheri DiNovo, an MPP who on ability could
run herself, is not supporting Horwath, the
only woman candidate, but opting for Tabuns
because of his green agenda.
These New Democrats are not exactly
overflowing with sisterly love, either, but they
not taking this leadership contest lightly and
neither should others.
Eric
Dowd
FFrroomm
QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk
Simply put, the friendship that sprang up
could have, in its early stages at least,
been aptly described as harmonious.
The two women met as members of a
chorale group. One was in her early 20s. She
had joined to sing and to enjoy something
separate from her role as mom. Each Tuesday
night she settled into a roomful of women
who shared the love of music.
Yet, despite the affinity, there was
something separating her from the rest,
something that made the forming of any
deeper friendships seem inconceivable. She
was a generation away from them in her
views, her style, her likes and dislikes. She
listened to David Bowie’s Golden Years; some
in this assembly were getting pretty close to
living them. She was raising babies; those
nearest in age to her were raising babysitters.
She wondered what happened to the music of
the 1960s; they didn’t think any of it could be
called music.
She was me and through the years of course,
the situation changed. A close friend of mine
joined the chorus, as did a number of other
people our age, and close social ties were
formed. But interestingly, one of the closest
for me was with a former Toronto resident
who was old enough to remember Yorkville
before the hippies.
It was 1975 and I had been with Sweet
Adelines for almost a year when Gail and Ev,
two women in their (egad!) mid-to late-30s
approached me at practice one night. They
wanted me to be part of a quartet. This meant
more singing, so after giving it a test run and
realizing we didn’t sound too half bad, I could
only say yes. Eventually, my pal came on
board and what followed was a unique bond
that spanned decades.
What surprised me, however, was how close
the four of us became. Had anyone suggested
I would find bosom buddies in women more
than 10 years older than me, this kid would
have thought they had lost it.
But we got along well, very well in fact. The
older two were yin to our yang. Interestingly
from the start each set of friends found its
counterpart in the other. Ev and Robin were
the ladies. They were the ones who knew how
to put together an outfit that worked. They
were talented seamstresses and made many of
the costumes we wore.
Gail and I were, well, none of the above.
Disasters in the craft department we were
instead, the right-brained ones tweaking the
music, listening to the blend, the chords, and
trying to fine tune them.
It’s a bond that’s held on. This past weekend
Mark and I travelled to her home for a
sleepover. It was as expected a great time, one
spent creating new memories while
remembering the old.
Gail and I spent hours laughing over stories
we have laughed over many times before.
There were many we missed, too. But that’s
okay we’ll get to them another time.
As any acquaintance, this woman helped to
shape me. I found in her someone who
occasionally mothered me, offered sisterly
advice, taught me through her experience, but
never failed to be my friend.
She inadvertently taught me something else
too. This relationship made me realize friends
come in all ages. I am revitalized by the
company of younger people. And I know
enough now to appreciate what I can learn
from the wisdom of experience.
Really as long as you’re in tune with each
other age doesn’t matter.
This unnoticed race worthwhile
There are two things to aim at in life; first
to get what you want, and after that to enjoy
it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the
second.
– Logan Pearsall Smith
Final Thought