modern dictionary for old words
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| purplewizard Jan 07, 2007 6:20 AM EDT |
I suspect he would have been better off looking for a period dictionary with definitions of the day in. I find it troubling the reliance of our written understanding of words now in something even only a century old. I used to for example believe in the campaigns to abolish legalese. Then I realised (whilst studying law) you can't because those words have meanings that have remained more consistent in their legal definition that regular language and therefore assist to preserve meaning. Plus the issue of the times is that what dialect do you use. Where this fits into modern times is because it is the same set of reasons on the whole used by D Knuth with regard to the Art of Computer Programming series for not using a programming language that happens to be in vogue at the time of writing. Using assembly relates to using legalese. The correct solution becomes having modern annotated guides to the tablets set in stone. (Nice insertion of a biblical reference eh!) |
| dinotrac Jan 07, 2007 10:19 AM EDT |
>I used to for example believe in the campaigns to abolish legalese. My law school (Chicago-Kent) was quite well known for advocating the use of plain english in legal documents. That, however, is very different from the elimination of legalese. There is much to said for legal terms of art when you are communicating to other people in the legal profession. Not only do they ensure consistency of interpretation (at least within the legal community), but serve as great shortcuts for complicated concepts. |
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