That's another word for ...
A number of online sources inform us that on this day in 1852 the first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published. That seems to be a rather fitting event to commemorate in these pages, though I have to admit to an ongoing ambivalence toward that incredible tool. After all, does it really matter that we have multiple ways of saying something if, ultimately, we've got nothing to say? What's more, and perhaps more to the point, multiple ways of saying something isn't really analagous to the multiple paths of association that hypertext offers us. Unless we realize that different words don't mean the same thing, but instead, through small but significant differences in meaning we create multiple views of a single reality. Numerous sources on the web tell us about Roget's almost life-long project (here's one, for example), and they tend to be very convincing. Regardless of whether or not we view having synonyms available to us as an aid or as a hindrance, it's a very impressive achievement. So thank you Dr. Peter Mark Roget, for working on your thesaurus for 47 years until finally, after retiring, you unleashed it on the world.
And while on the subject of the thesaurus, did you notice the epigram on that referred page? (Did you click there at all?)
The man is not wholly evil - he has a Thesaurus in his cabin.
It's a fascinating quote, and it can be found about ten times on the web, always referred to as being said about Peter Pan's Captain Hook. The idea is convincing, perhaps even uplifting. It certainly says something important about the civilizing power of words. But on just what page of which edition of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan can that quote be found? I've searched through three online editions of Barrie's Peter Pan, unable to find the word thesaurus in any of them. The closest I've come is:
The man was not wholly evil; he loved flowers (I have been told) and sweet music (he was himself no mean performer on the harpsichord); and, let it be frankly admitted, the idyllic nature of the scene stirred
him profoundly.
It's a similar thought, but credits flowers, music and nature, rather than words. I don't know why someone would make up this statement as a quote from Peter Pan, nor why it would be somewhat frequently quoted without someone (before me) trying to trace the precise source. Maybe there's another edition of the book where it actually appears. I certainly wish someone would have stated the chapter and page number.
Go to: Are there refrigerator doors in cyberspace?