Jesse, spread all over the Times

[Joel S. Berson]

Someone on an 18th-century email said said Noah was nasty too.  (I
haven't read the NYT article(s) yet.)

Joel

At 6/1/2011 12:30 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>I thought that they might cut that line. Instead, it's been interesting
>to note that all the lexicographers (and related folk) have cracked up
>laughing or have shaken their heads in understanding, and all the
>civilians haven't even noticed the line is there.
>
>Also, there's a real difference between OCD and OCPD, which is what
>Kendall ascribes to Webster, and what I think is familiar to many of us.
>
>Jesse
>
>On Wed, Jun 01, 2011 at 10:53:12AM -0400, Baker, John wrote:
> >         Some interesting comments, quite relevant to this list, from the
> > review of the Webster biography:
> >
> > Kendall marshals a wide range of evidence to argue that Webster suffered
> > from what we now call obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, from
> > Webster's own diaries (where Webster regularly mentioned his "extreme
> > depression," "anxiety" and "nervous affections") to the monomaniacal
> > attention he paid to subjects that he found engaging (he would count the
> > number of houses in each city he visited in his travels). While such
> > after-the-fact diagnoses may seem overly influenced by modern
> > perspectives, Webster's personality traits are entirely familiar to
> > anyone acquainted with an actual lexicographer. . . . The skills
> > required to do this kind of linguistic work have their costs.
> >
> >
> >         I'm no lexicographer, but my wife sometimes tells me that I have
> > OCD.  I tell her that I'm missing the "disorder" component.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of Laurence Horn
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 10:27 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Jesse, spread all over the Times
> >
> > First, this excellent review of a biography of Noah Webster from
> > Sunday's Book Review:
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-the-forgotten
> > -founding-father-noah-websters-obsession-and-the-creation-of-an-american
> > -culture-by-joshua-kendall.html
> >
> > and then three days later, a piece--
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/books/john-donohue-taps-male-cooks-in-
> > man-with-a-pan-book-review.html
> > --on a new book (_MAN WITH A PAN: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who
> > Cook for Their Families_, by John Donoghue) that features an essay by
> > Jesse along with others by (almost) equally prominent SNAGs
> > ("Sensitive New Age Gluttons") like Stephen King and Mario Batali.
> > It fills us in on recent developments in Jesse's love life and
> > culinary adventures, including his attempts to deal with with the
> > dread "sexually transmitted eating disorder".  (Sounds like fun.)
> >
> > LH
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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