[Ads-l] Fwd: Definition of "saying"

[Mark Mandel]

I just sent this to Houghton Mifflin, re their online version of the
American Heritage, 5 edn., via the only electronic contact I could find on
their website that seemed even remotely hopeful.

Mark
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mark Mandel" <thnidu at gmail.com>
Date: May 1, 2015 11:39 PM
Subject: Definition of "saying"
To: <trade.webmaster at hmhco.com>
Cc:

Please pass this along to the editorial board of the A.H.Dictionary:

Your online definition of "saying" (
https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=saying) is unacceptably
broad and weak:

Something, such as an adage or maxim, that is said.

Though immediately followed by a list of synonyms with amplified
definitions -  saying, maxim, adage, saw², aphorism - it does nothing to
specify what distinguishes a saying, or one of these synonyms, from
anything else "that is said", such as
• Bring me a hamburger, medium rare.
• Ouch!
• We hold these truths to be self-evident.
• The keeper would a-hunting go.

Inadequate! and unworthy of your dictionary and its heritage.

Sincerely,
Mark A. Mandel

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org