[Lexicog] Plagiarism (was: The perils of lexicography)

[Fritz Goerling]

Here is another peril of lexicography and dictionary-making taken from
American wit Ambrose Bierce's cynical classic The Devil's  Dictionary:

  DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a
language and making it hard and inelastic.

  And here is Bierce's definition on "plagiarism":

  PLAGIARISM: A literary coincidence compounded of a discreditable priority
and an honourable subsequence.
  PLAGIARIZE: To take the thought or style of another writer whom one has
never, never read.
  (Ambrose Bierce: The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary)
          Other definitions or quotes:
  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (unknown author)
  Plagiarists are always suspicious of being stolen from. (Samuel Taylor
Coleridge)
  Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation. (Benjamin Disraeli)
  Self-plagiarism is style. (Alfred Hitchcock)
  To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism — to steal from many is
research.(Steven Wright)

Can you come up with other original (witty) definitions of "plagiarism"?

Fritz Goerling







  Some of you may find this blog entry on plagiarism in some lexicographical
  work interesting, or at least good advice to remember when using some
  dictionaries:

  http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001988.php

  Wayne
  -----
  Wayne Leman
  Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language




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