Satirical Dictionaries: Their Indefinable Charm

guardian.co.uk:

The success of the Twitter feed purporting to be the 140-character updates of none other than Dr Samuel Johnson, in which wry, satirical definitions are given to common words, would seem to be a very 21st-century phenomenon.

The real Dr Johnson died in 1784 -- but it was his devotion to lexicography that paved the way for Tom Morton, the man behing the tweets, to offer gems such as "Valentine (n.) Patron-Saint of avaricious Florists & the MAWKISH: his Feast mark'd by Consumption of pinkish Victuals" on the social networking site.

Read the whole story: guardian.co.uk

Comments

[fredgladys]

04:59 PM on 03/01/2011

Books like this should be standard in every US school, similarly sarcasm and irony could be useful.

[triplettam]

02:02 PM on 03/01/2011

Ah, "The Devil's Dictionary." Along with Swifts "A Modest Proposal" introduced me to satire at an early age. Bierce was the ultimate cynic.