A valedictory f.w.i.w.

[thomas paikeday]

A VALEDICTORY FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

  Some time back, lexicographer Larry Urdang signed off from ADS-L blaming Barry Popik for his frequent postings. I have had no problem with Barry’s postings. In fact, I have enjoyed many of them for the contributions he makes to our knowledge of language and lexicography. I have also enjoyed the postings of Jonathan Lighter, Wilson Gray, and other experts on slang and dialect especially because I was not raised in N. America. I landed here (in Boston actually) only at age 36.
  What I have found irksome and what forces me to sign off from ADS-L (at age 81, I am living with one foot in the grave anyway) is someone (he shall remain nameless) dominating ADS-L with constant ill-informed and irrelevant comments as though this forum is a schoolyard where he reigns supreme as a sort of bully. That is a strong statement, but let me explain.

  If I understand the purpose of ADS-L right, it is a forum for uninhibited informal comments on matters of interest to ADS. Such comments need not be in a form edited for publication in the media. But you don’t step into the forum in your birthday suit talking in your home language complete with vulgarities you learned in your early childhood education. Basic decorum seems called for. No one, I believe, should have the right to throw his weight around.

  The straw that broke this camel’s back happened like this. Many months back, a professor of linguistics posted something with a serious error in it. As any student who knows his books might do in class, I offered a simple correction. The correction was acknowledged, but instead of accepting it with scholarly grace, he made a petulant remark that my comment was an unwelcome lexicographical intrusion or words to that effect. I tried to ignore it, but his buddy quickly came to the rescue telling me to stay off his backyard. I was taken aback.

  I thought I would refer the matter to a jury of our peers (retired professors of English and linguistics) for an objective judgment. That is why I have waited this long for my valedictory. I now say goodbye satisfied and happy. I will continue to enjoy my life membership of ADS. In fact, I hope to present a paper at the Chicago annual meeting. Comments that any ADS-L member may have on the subject raised here may please be saved for Chicago or emailed directly to me. I won’t be checking in here again except when I have a particular research request.

  Thanks Barry, Jonathan, Wilson, and others who have improved my knowledge of dialect and slang during these years I have been active on ADS-L.

  Salaams.

  THOMAS M. PAIKEDAY, Ph.D.
  Lexicography, Inc.
  Website: www.paikeday.net
  Email: thomaspaikeday at yahoo.ca
  Phone: 905-790-7076
  Fax: 905-790-9168

  P.S. When I became a lexicographer in 1964, one of the first things I did was to brush up on slang by reading Flexner's DAS from cover to cover. Now I browse Lighter's HDAS. I also use informants like my asst. Maranda (pictured on my website, opening page). Suggestion for Jonathan unless the point has already been noted: "flower," n. 2, seems current also in the singular. Here is a quotable citation: I asked my informant how she'd use the word. Response: "I tell my little girl, Don't ever let anyone touch your flower." Lovely, uh?


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