curry
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Ένας τύπος που διαβάζει λεξικά εξηγεί το χόμπι του στο BBC. Εξαιρετικά αφιερωμένο!
Ολόκληρο το άρθρο με φωτογραφίες κλπ εδώ.
Ammon Shea spent a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary - 20 volumes, 21,730 pages and 59 million words - and he rates poring over a dictionary as enriching as reading a novel. Why?
The prospect of talking to a man who reads dictionaries for fun prompts a sudden vocabulary-insecurity complex and a fear that every word he utters might sound like a painful medical condition.
But thanks to Ammon Shea's belief that long words only hinder conversations, there's no need to consult any dictionaries while he clearly explains his eccentric hobby.
"I'm not against big words per se or fancy or obscure words, obviously I love them, but I'm opposed to using them for their own sake," he says.
"If words are to form a communication, you use them as a tool to communicate to people and it's pointless to intentionally use a word that no-one else knows."
Mr Shea, a 37-year-old former furniture remover in New York, has spent 12 months conquering what he describes as the Everest of dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), by ploughing through 20 volumes weighing a total of 137lbs.
In the process, he became the Morgan Spurlock of lexicologists, devouring words for eight to 10 hours a day, which caused him severe headaches, deteriorating eyesight and injuries to his back and neck. So why bother?
"I've always enjoyed reading dictionaries and they are far more interesting than people give them credit for. And I think everything you find in a great book you would find in a great dictionary, except for the plot.
"All the normal emotions - grief, happiness and loss - exist in a dictionary but not necessarily in the order that you would think."
If you come across a word like "remord" (to recall with a touch of regret) it's impossible to read that word without thinking of things that you regret yourself, he says, or to read "unbepissed" (not having been urinated on) without a chuckle.
SOME OF HIS FAVOURITES...
Cachinnator - one who laughs too much or too loudly
Dyspathy - the opposite of sympathy
Gove - to stare stupidly
Hansardize - to change one's opinion
Happify - to make happy
Natiform - buttock-shaped
Pejorist - one who thinks the world is getting worse
Philodox - one who is in love with his own opinion
Secretary - one who is privy to a secret
Tripudiate - to dance, skip or leap for joy
Ολόκληρο το άρθρο με φωτογραφίες κλπ εδώ.
Ammon Shea spent a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary - 20 volumes, 21,730 pages and 59 million words - and he rates poring over a dictionary as enriching as reading a novel. Why?
The prospect of talking to a man who reads dictionaries for fun prompts a sudden vocabulary-insecurity complex and a fear that every word he utters might sound like a painful medical condition.
But thanks to Ammon Shea's belief that long words only hinder conversations, there's no need to consult any dictionaries while he clearly explains his eccentric hobby.
"I'm not against big words per se or fancy or obscure words, obviously I love them, but I'm opposed to using them for their own sake," he says.
"If words are to form a communication, you use them as a tool to communicate to people and it's pointless to intentionally use a word that no-one else knows."
Mr Shea, a 37-year-old former furniture remover in New York, has spent 12 months conquering what he describes as the Everest of dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), by ploughing through 20 volumes weighing a total of 137lbs.
In the process, he became the Morgan Spurlock of lexicologists, devouring words for eight to 10 hours a day, which caused him severe headaches, deteriorating eyesight and injuries to his back and neck. So why bother?
"I've always enjoyed reading dictionaries and they are far more interesting than people give them credit for. And I think everything you find in a great book you would find in a great dictionary, except for the plot.
"All the normal emotions - grief, happiness and loss - exist in a dictionary but not necessarily in the order that you would think."
If you come across a word like "remord" (to recall with a touch of regret) it's impossible to read that word without thinking of things that you regret yourself, he says, or to read "unbepissed" (not having been urinated on) without a chuckle.
SOME OF HIS FAVOURITES...
Cachinnator - one who laughs too much or too loudly
Dyspathy - the opposite of sympathy
Gove - to stare stupidly
Hansardize - to change one's opinion
Happify - to make happy
Natiform - buttock-shaped
Pejorist - one who thinks the world is getting worse
Philodox - one who is in love with his own opinion
Secretary - one who is privy to a secret
Tripudiate - to dance, skip or leap for joy
