Noah Webster at 250

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/15/2008 06:08 PM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>Webster had fanciful etymologies, and his self-promotion was rampant
>-- didn't he also write reviews of his works under fake names? did he
>originate that practice, or am i misremembering.

Noah probably didn't invent the fake review, I suspect it was common
in the 18th century (but probably always unsigned).  The only example
that comes to mind quickly is Mather Byles (1707-1788) praising his
own poems.  But Ben Franklin probably did it too.

Joel

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