Halls of ivy

[Arnold Zwicky]

(thanks for "ockham's sledge-hammer", dInIs!)

i've always thought that professionals - linguists and lexicographers
- contribute (inadvertently and unavoidably) to the problem by
telling people what we know.  once someone's heard the true history
of, say, NICE, or SILLY, or BEDLAM, the ground opens under their
feet, and they are ripe to believe - indeed, to expect - any sort
of preposterous etymology.

There Are Things They Were Not Meant To Know.

these things should be kept as guild secrets.  what's our society
for, anyway?

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)