in 1852 Roget published his thesaurus, a word that means ‘treasure house’ in greek.
JANUARY 18: NATIONAL THESAURUS DAY
British lexicographer Peter Mark Roget—who is most famous for publishing The Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (a.k.a. Roget’s Thesaurus) in 1852—was born on January 18, 1779. As such, this is a day to honor, celebrate, extol, laud, praise, revere, salute, etc. his contributions.
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“the man is not wholly evil, he has a thesaurus in his cabin.”
– j.m. barrie, author of Peter Pan, describing the character Captain Hook.
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Personal note:
I am a huge fan of alphabets, words, and more words, in all languages
the thesaurus is one of my favorite books
and it is indeed a treasure house.
—
image credit: the right word, Roget and his thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet
I have my thesaurus and dictionary, beside me here on my desk…. always… xx
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loyal friends
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They taught me, to read and write again…. when I was rehab’ing from my first stroke in 2000……
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that’s amazing, Ivor –
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They taught me well, here I am, writing poetry 🌏💙
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amazing
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I never thought I’d be able to get this far in my writing, I only started writing little poems to help me regain my writing, and learn how to speak properly. Last year’s 2 addition strokes, Dec 2018 and Feb 2019 were hard, but not as bad… and here I am again,… still writing poetry….. definitely very therapeutic, mentally and physically… I’ve actually amazed myself 😂😁🌏🎶
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you are a miracle
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Oh Beth, now you are REALLY breaking my heart. Why? Because in preparation of our intern. Move we have to get rid of some 1600 books and VERY WEIGHTY amongst those are my umpteen Thesaurus, etymological dictionaries, (we have standard works in 5 languages plus a dozen works in 7), plus historical guidebooks worth hundreds of CHF at the time of buying them, and ALL of them have to go – as we now are able to look them up on the internet….. And it makes me SO SAD! Books are my personal friends and it does nearly break me to know I can’t take them along and I can’t even give them to anybody.
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yikes, I know, some books are like old friends
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Now that’s a day worth celebrating 🙂
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I so agree, Francine
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I didn’t know there was National Thesaurus Day! How wonderful, marvelous, magnificent, sublime, and glorious!
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yes, to all of that!
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Hello Merrrildsmith. how are you doing? please can we be friends?
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I only recently (last few years) came to know, love and use my thesaurus. I fully support this celebration!!!!
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it’s a magnificent one -)
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Words are indeed a treasure.
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priceless.
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👍
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aren’t they. though?
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Definitely.
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I kept copies of Roget’s Thesaurus and Webster’s Dictionary next to the AP Stylebook on my work cubby shelf throughout my journalism career, Beth. Yes, even after I could call them up online.
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they are a comfort to those who enjoy words
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Sometimes, it is absolutely crucial to open that book.
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I so agree, Jim
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Excellent book. 🙂
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indeed!
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Thanks for making sure we all knew what an important day it is: a day to celebrates words! Love the quote as well!
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thanks, John
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I don’t remember that line from Peter Pan. I must look for it.
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to me, it sounded like he was describing the character and his surroundings.
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Yes, that makes sense.
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I, too, am a lover of words and could not love without my thesauraus!!
Wonderful that there is a day to celebrate!
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I so agree
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Treasure house, true. Not to mention dictionaries and encyclopedias!
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absolutely!
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I came across another fun fact about Roget’s Thesaurus: Sylvia Plath considered it her desert island book over the Bible… (from Wikipedia)
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I love this!
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Couldn’t agree more. It reminds me of a quote I once read “Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” The Power of Language!
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oh, yes, that is a wonderful quote –
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Love this. I have mine handy too. How can we not love words and what they do.
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impossible not to –
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I don’t have this book, but I sure have Roget’s Thesaurus!
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Me too!
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