Language

Sinking with Humanity

As the human race tumbles watch it drag language down along with it

Some time back, I bought a Dictionary of Thought at a local library’s yearly sale. Published in 1954, it was a fine volume — old and well-read from what I could tell (it smelled much thumbed and revered) and steeped as it were in traditional and ethical values, to me this book was a goof reflection of the elevated, untumbled, thinking man.

Perusing this wonderful book, I looked up Abstinence and found that all entries, all quotes, under this heading held abstinence up to be a virtuous thing, a purifier of thought and soul, a measure of character, a good thing.

Out of curiosity, shortly thereafter, when I browsed one of my favorite bookstores, I looked up Abstinence in a modern dictionary of quotations and read, with only one exception, quotes that held the exact opposite viewpoint of the older (more mature) dictionary — just about every quote in the modern edition held Abstinence up to ridicule and as something to be scorned and smirked at.

It is a sad commentary on the defeatist view of man, and of the modern indulgent nature of the beast, that he must degrade everything he touches, including dictionaries — but then, George Orwell would not have been in the least surprised.

I left the store a little shocked.

© Wolfstuff

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