full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Erin McKean: The joy of lexicography

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Because a word is like an archaeological artifact. If you don't know the pvrnaneoce or the source of the artifact, it's not sceicne, it's a pretty thing to look at. So a word without its source is like a cut flower. You know, it's pretty to look at for a while, but then it dies. It dies too fast. So, this whole time I've been saying, "The dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary." Not "a diorcitany," or "dictionaries." And that's because, well, people use the dictionary to stand for the whole language. They use it syconadcclihley. And one of the problems of knowing a word like "synecdochically" is that you really want an eusxce to say "synecdochically." This whole talk has just been an excuse to get me to the point where I could say "synecdochically" to all of you. So I'm really sorry. But when you use a part of something — like the dictionary is a part of the language, or a flag stands for the utenid States, it's a symbol of the curnoty — then you're using it synecdochically. But the thing is, we could make the dictionary the whole language. If we get a bigger pan, then we can put all the words in. We can put in all the meanings. Doesn't everyone want more meaning in their lives? And we can make the dictionary not just be a symbol of the language — we can make it be the whole language.

Open Cloze

Because a word is like an archaeological artifact. If you don't know the __________ or the source of the artifact, it's not _______, it's a pretty thing to look at. So a word without its source is like a cut flower. You know, it's pretty to look at for a while, but then it dies. It dies too fast. So, this whole time I've been saying, "The dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary." Not "a __________," or "dictionaries." And that's because, well, people use the dictionary to stand for the whole language. They use it _______________. And one of the problems of knowing a word like "synecdochically" is that you really want an ______ to say "synecdochically." This whole talk has just been an excuse to get me to the point where I could say "synecdochically" to all of you. So I'm really sorry. But when you use a part of something — like the dictionary is a part of the language, or a flag stands for the ______ States, it's a symbol of the _______ — then you're using it synecdochically. But the thing is, we could make the dictionary the whole language. If we get a bigger pan, then we can put all the words in. We can put in all the meanings. Doesn't everyone want more meaning in their lives? And we can make the dictionary not just be a symbol of the language — we can make it be the whole language.

Solution

  1. provenance
  2. science
  3. united
  4. excuse
  5. synecdochically
  6. dictionary
  7. country

Original Text

Because a word is like an archaeological artifact. If you don't know the provenance or the source of the artifact, it's not science, it's a pretty thing to look at. So a word without its source is like a cut flower. You know, it's pretty to look at for a while, but then it dies. It dies too fast. So, this whole time I've been saying, "The dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary." Not "a dictionary," or "dictionaries." And that's because, well, people use the dictionary to stand for the whole language. They use it synecdochically. And one of the problems of knowing a word like "synecdochically" is that you really want an excuse to say "synecdochically." This whole talk has just been an excuse to get me to the point where I could say "synecdochically" to all of you. So I'm really sorry. But when you use a part of something — like the dictionary is a part of the language, or a flag stands for the United States, it's a symbol of the country — then you're using it synecdochically. But the thing is, we could make the dictionary the whole language. If we get a bigger pan, then we can put all the words in. We can put in all the meanings. Doesn't everyone want more meaning in their lives? And we can make the dictionary not just be a symbol of the language — we can make it be the whole language.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ham butt 5
traffic cop 4
online dictionaries 4
bad words 3
rocket science 3
compiling dictionaries 2
good words 2
oxford english 2
english dictionary 2
love computers 2
victorian design 2
english language 2
love books 2
aesthetic judgments 2
artificial distinction 2
numbered definitions 2
american english 2
missing california 2
mike oates 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
oxford english dictionary 2

Important Words

  1. archaeological
  2. artifact
  3. bigger
  4. country
  5. cut
  6. dictionary
  7. dies
  8. excuse
  9. fast
  10. flag
  11. flower
  12. knowing
  13. language
  14. lives
  15. meaning
  16. meanings
  17. pan
  18. part
  19. people
  20. point
  21. pretty
  22. problems
  23. provenance
  24. put
  25. science
  26. source
  27. stand
  28. stands
  29. states
  30. symbol
  31. synecdochically
  32. talk
  33. time
  34. united
  35. word
  36. words