The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • World

    Stalled talks may kill Israel's Labor Party

  • Politics

    Bill Clinton urges Dems to pass health bill

  • Security

    Obama: No religious faith justifies Fort Hood shootings

  • Local

    Families meet as sniper's execution nears

  • Politics

    EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate

  • National

    Justices weigh juveniles' life without parole

  • National

    Leadership changes at The Times

Saturday, January 21, 2006

DR. Johnson's Dictionary

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Obama: No religious faith justifies Fort Hood shootings
  • Bill Clinton urges Dems to pass health bill
  • Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan
  • Hood suspect earlier came under FBI scrutiny

By

DEFINING THE WORLD: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF DR. JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY

By Henry Hitchings

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24, 292 pages, illus.

REVIEWED BY JAMES SRODES

It is sad that two of the great creative forces in the English language lived within half a mile of each other for nearly 20 years of the middle 18th century yet met only once and avoided each other thereafter. Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Franklin had so much in common but never clicked and therein lies another tale for another time about why Americans and Britons are said to be separated by a common language.

Our linguistic estrangement dates from these earliest days and has as much to do with what different men Johnson and Franklin were. Yet one cannot help speculate how history might have turned if they had made common cause on a true common tongue.

Language matters perhaps more than any other social relationship. How we talk and write to one another tells us far more than the information being transmitted; it tells us who we are and where we stand in relationship to each other.

This book is entertainingly and informatively written by a talented, young British journalist. Those who want to learn about Johnson's equally gargantuan appetites and depressions and his strange relationship with Hester Thrale should look elsewhere. But if the development of language and its impact on a culture interest you, then this is a treat. Especially if your version of English is the American brand and you are curious as to why so much of our shared vocabulary has different meanings.

Johnson and Franklin were sons of middling merchants whose prominence in their communities came from minor public office. Franklin's made candles; Johnson's was a book seller. Johnson got a better formal education but Franklin had a more profitable training as a printer. Skill with words clearly was the passport to advancement for both as young men and both climbed quickly in the front ranks of their respective country's writers at very young ages.

1234Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  3. EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate
  4. Parents buying homes for kids at college
  5. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
More Top Stories »
  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. Families meet as sniper's execution nears
  3. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  4. Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies
  5. Court refuses to halt sniper's execution

Most Shared

  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  3. Defense nominee won't reveal potential conflicts
  4. 'Fuzzy math' could drive health bill cost higher
  5. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  2. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  3. Parents buying homes for kids at college
  4. The siren call of Shariah
  5. Sinking dollar fuels new gold rush

Most Commented

  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. 'Fuzzy math' could drive health bill cost higher
  3. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  4. Defense nominee won't reveal potential conflicts
  5. Lieberman vows probe of Hood rampage
More Top Stories »
  1. Jihadists in the military
  2. Health bill faces roadblocks in Senate
  3. EDITORIAL: Mr. Obama, stay away from this wall
  4. Hood suspect earlier came under FBI scrutiny
  5. 'Anti-vaccine' attitude hampers H1N1 effort

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    New Dem talking point on Obama approval doesn't wash

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    New Vatican constitution released

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    Hall, Portis on radio

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.