The Ivy League Dictionary

Foreword

I began writing this book for my own use as a graduate student. Because I had to write so frequently, I wanted to make my work stand apart from the mountain of papers my professors had to pore over every semester. I began to cobble together a list of interesting terms for my own use with examples from books and periodicals. Just as a photographer would have to travel to the ends of the Earth to photograph endangered animals in their natural habitat, the endangered words in this book have been captured in their natural habitats both to serve as a guide to writers and to help reintroduce them to a wider habitat.

I want to share the Ivy League Dictionary with you for several reasons. Upon meeting a new person, we develop an impression of them in less than one second. Once that impression is made, it is very difficult to change. A writer today has even more competition to make their first impression as new forms of media proliferate and compete for our limited attention.

In a usage guide from 1908, "The King's English, writers were urged to "[p]refer the Saxon word to the Romance." Ignore this. Contemporary writers enjoy the freedom to express themselves using words that scarcely existed in previous generations. When we champion a cause rather than merely promote it, we have a deeper commitment to it. Using discretion is very different than relying on common sense. Pandering is more succinct than appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Words can also provide us with a glimpse of the similarities (and difference) of other cultures. One columnist noted that the French language seems particularly well stocked with terms relating to depression. From morosité and malheur to malaise and mélancolie, French writers are spoiled for choice when describing what Winston Churchill described as the "black dog."

Lastly, each word, no matter how similar, has its own slightly different meaning. Even synonyms, while appearing identical, will convey slightly different shadings of meaning. While precision gives writing its power, selecting the right word to convey a concept makes writing memorable. That being said, good writing is not a show of intellectual muscle. The same author from 1908 urges writers to prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. This aphorism remains true as a writer who relies upon using the most obscure term is a writer that risks losing his reader. The name of the game is using the right word, not burying your reader under an avalanche of unfamiliar terms. "All talent for writing consists after all of nothing more than choosing words. It is precision that gives writing power."

Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov, "First Impressions," Psychological Science, July 2006.

H.W. Fowler, "The King's English," 2ndEd. 1908.

Gustave Flaubert. The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." – Ludwig Wittgenstein,Philosophical Investigations, 1953"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink." – George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

– Mark Twain, 1888