how change language of dictionary in word for mac 2011

Johnson took a surprisingly descriptive (rather than prescriptive) stance toward English, acknowledging that change wasn't just inevitable, but normal. It is no coincidence that the word 'slang' entered the language immediately after Samuel Johnson codified it for the first time in his 1755 dictionary. And who you are, linguistically speaking, is all about class, innit. The word 'slang' is itself illustrative: it was first recorded in 1756, I learn from the OED, which offers a wonderfully sniffy definition: 'The special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character.' Language thus signals not education, but character: not what you know, but who you are. Babylonian is untroubled by the intrusion of new slang, as it is untroubled by speakers. We all know that language is mutable, that it must either evolve or wither away: there's no language so pure as a dead one. To wit: my use of the '-ize' suffix in 'hierarchize' will brand me as a philistine to certain readers – a point to which I'll return. Usage creates groups it includes and excludes, and it hierarchizes. Language usage matters, in other words, not merely because of our need to communicate denotatively, but because of the complex, subtle array of connotative meanings conveyed by specific usages. The Americans amongst us might wonder why an American like me is using the archaic 'amongst' instead of 'among' like a normal person. The cynics amongst us might wonder whether the dictionary's editors made deliberately provocative choices to stir up publicity. I hate to admit it, but historically speaking the answer to that question is yes.

Admission into any dictionary is the first step on the road to legitimation, thus raising the question of whether mispronunciation constitutes a genuine neologism.

Y ou can feel the collective shudder among language purists: 'innit', 'grrl' and 'thang' have been admitted into the Collins Scrabble Dictionary.

How change language of dictionary in word for mac 2011