SC - Language (was: .food riddle and query)

[cclark at vicon.net]

Ras wrote:
><< Wheat kernels have no juicy pulp. They are not berries. >>
>
>This is inaccurate. Miriam -Webster gives another definition also right after 
>the one that you tout as 'correct.'
>
> c : the dry seed of some plants (as wheat)
>
>Therefore, the use of the word berry in regard to wheat is accurate and 
>correct.

The main job of a lexicographer is apparently to describe current usage as
he/she sees it. Mistakes, nonsensical usages and all. For instance, if some
people have learned that "I" comes after other personal pronouns and names,
but have not learned the same about "me," then "I" becomes accusative as
well as nominative in such circumstances (e. g. "They saw him and I."). And
it could be so defined in the dictionary. But even if it were, that wouldn't
make it correct. Likewise, if many people think "schizophrenia" means
multiple personality disorder, that misdefinition might have a valid place
in the dictionary. But no competent psychiatrist would call either illness
by the other one's name, no matter what the dictionary said.

The dictionary doesn't make anything right. It only describes the language
as it is used or abused. At most, it will sometimes designate certain terms
as regional, colloquial, dialect, or slang. Even if a given usage is a
blight on the language, it still belongs in the dictionary if it is current
and common. But if people have the good sense to stop using certain
misdefinitions of certain words then those misusages can be taken back out
of the dictionary.

Those who really know a language need not be slaves of the dictionary. If
one knows that one usage is better, more meaningful, more consistent with
former usages and related usages, while a different usage is silly,
arbitrary, and confusing, then one may reasonably prefer and recommend the
former while disapproving of the latter.

BTW, I checked my dictionary and didn't find any definitions equating
grains/kernels with berries. And that is as it should be.

Alex Clark/Henry of Maldon

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