The Dictionary

We went through an old bookshelf to see what ancient books we ought to get rid of, a shelf mostly filled with kids books, especially ones in Spanish, collectors guides to glassware, a few novels sprinkled in, and a giant dictionary. It wasn't one of those abridged, "only the words you need to know" versions (until you compare it to OED, whereby it does turn into a very abridged edition):

"Should we keep it?"

Duh.

For those of us who don't really understand the dictionary, its use does not end as a simple list of definitions. The dictionary spills secrets of Latin and Greek, the roots of all those pesky words we use every day, and how they came to present themselves to us. It is a guidepost to our language past and present. Thank God Noah Webster had control issues and just had to put English into perspective. We would be lost without such a grand lexiconographical enterprise.

So go get a dictionary. Bask in the etymologies, embark on a journey with pronunciation, share tomofoolery with some synonyms. It's far from understandable; it is rather un-undertakable. But you have no idea what you can do with a few details lying in wait, latent, formidable, the Pandora's Box of.... of what?

For all you Berkeley Students, OED online is free for all your etymological and idiomatic needs. And that site is hella expensive, something like $30 a month. Use it while you can.