The Lexicographer's Rules

Scott McLemee writes about the very first English-language dictionary. “At the risk of being overly present-minded, there’s a sense in which Cawdrey was a pioneer in dealing with the effects of his era’s information explosion. Thanks to the printing press, the English language was undergoing a kind of mutation in the 16th century. New words began to circulate in the uncharted zone between common usage and the cosmopolitan lingo of sophisticated urbanites who traveled widely. Learned gentlemen were traveling to France and Italy and coming back ‘to powder their talk with over-sea language,’ as Cawdrey noted.” (via Maud Newton).

If you can’t spell, Internet Access Captchas will keep you off the Internet.

Lord of the Flies. “Thousands of people have no idea that responding to a listserve will broadcast your response to all recipients. Repeated ‘But I don’t even smoke!’ messages reveal an apparently deep-seated belief that spam is somehow targeted at individuals rather than carpet-bombed. Each recipient seemed to think that each unsub demand was directed to them—which reveals how many people have never been on a listserve before, have absolutely no idea what they’re experiencing. Everyone threatens to rat the spammer out to their own ISP (‘If you don’t stop, I’ll tell AOL on you!’). Even after hundreds of repetitions, people are not able to infer that all replies are being refelected to all—which made me wonder how people get through the day to begin with.”