I have created an exercise for classes based on this article, which can be found at <a href="http://www.linguisticsintheclassroom.com">www.linguisticsintheclassroom.com</a>. It consists of definitions of three words the justices looked up (<i>common law, justice, attorney)</i>, with the definitions of each word from three dictionaries. Students can be given the definitions and asked to compare them. Which definition should the justices use? Which dictionary is "right?" <div>
<br>The definitions differ in many ways, some including spiritual or poetic overtones, some more extensive than others, some relying on history as a guide. The justices' reliance on a dictionary is an example of proscriptive thinking, as if a rule or a static definition could replace thinking something through.<div>
<br></div><div>People misunderstand the purpose of dictionaries. They can only be used with the addition of the reader's own brain and sensibility.</div><div><div><br></div><div>Ann<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 10:09 PM, Dennis Baron <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:debaron@illinois.edu">debaron@illinois.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">There's a new post on the Web of Language: <span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px"><a href="http://t.co/pCtFkzn" rel="nofollow" style="color:rgb(59, 89, 152);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">http://t.co/pCtFkzn</a></span><div>
<br></div><div><span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px">Webster's lays down the law.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px"><br>
</span></div><div><span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:normal"><p><span style="font-family:Arial">The Supreme Court is using dictionaries to interpret the Constitution. Both conservative justices, who believe the Constitution means today exactly what the Framers meant in the 18th century, and liberal ones, who see the Constitution as a living, breathing document changing with the times, are turning to dictionaries more than ever to interpret our laws: a new <span><a href="http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5051&context=mulr" target="_blank">report</a> </span>shows that the justices have looked up almost 300 words or phrases in the past decade. According to the <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/us/14bar.html?ref=adamliptak" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, </em>last week alone Chief Justice Roberts consulted five dictionaries.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Arial">Even though judicial dictionary look-ups are on the rise, the Court has never commented on how or why dictionary definitions play a role in Constitutional decisions. That’s further complicated by the fact that dictionaries aren’t designed to be legal authorities, or even authorities on language, though many people, including the justices of the Supreme Court, think of them that way. What dictionaries are, instead, are records of how some speakers and writers have used words. Dictionaries don’t include all the words there are, and except for an occasional usage note, they don’t tell us what to do with the words they do record. Although we often say, “The dictionary says…,” there are many dictionaries, and they don’t always agree.</span></p>
</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;line-height:14px">Read all about it on The Web of Language <a href="http://t.co/pCtFkzn" rel="nofollow" style="color:rgb(59, 89, 152);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">http://t.co/pCtFkzn</a></span></div>
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<span style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div>____________________</div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:14px"><span style="font-size:12px"><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:12px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px">Dennis Baron</font></div>
<div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:12px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px">Professor of English and Linguistics</font></div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:12px">
<font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px">Department of English<span> </span><span> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:12px">
<font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px">University of Illinois<span> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:12px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px">608 S. Wright St.</font></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><i><font color="#000099">Ann Anderson Evans</font></i><div><font color="#3366FF"><i><font color="#000099">Writer and Adjunct Professor, Montclair State University</font></i></font></div>
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