The daily prompt today is about bringing back a dinosaur. It’s the exact same one we had last June or July—seriously, I went back and looked. My answer back then was a triceratops because my name is Sarah and the ‘cera’ in triceratops sounds like my name. However, to answer the question again, I’m pulling on an experience I had last night.
My husband and I were at Barnes & Noble yesterday evening. We usually go once a week or once every couple of weeks. It’s why we really need to buy a new bookshelf for our house. We already have six and then three that are hung on the wall. But it’s not enough given that our weekly trips to the bookstore usually result in one (or both) of us buying at least one new book.
Anyway, I wandered to the back of the store where the reference books were. I recently discovered that there are quite a few books about writing back there.
When I got to that section, there was a kid sitting on the floor. I say kid, but he wasn’t a Dr. Seuss aged kid. He was more of a late teens, possibly early 20s aged kid. And he was on the floor with a variety of dictionaries spread out around him. I quietly stood behind him looking at the shelf of books in front of us. He eventually noticed me and when he did, he commented that he was having a hard time picking a dictionary. I quickly looked at what he had and then the shelf. I pointed to a particular one and told him that it was the one I had to buy for a college class I took one time. He reached for it while I continued to peruse the shelf.
He then held out what I showed him and another similar book and asked why they looked the same but were two different editions. I pointed out that one had a thesaurus included in it. His next comment was that he wasn’t sure he knew what a thesaurus was. Told you he was a kid.
I patiently explained what it is and how it could help his writing. His response showed a sense of intrigue at this new information. After that, I wished him good luck and went on my way.
I didn’t ask him why he needed to buy a dictionary. But now I really wish I had. It was such an odd thing to be so intently focused on buying on a Saturday evening. To be fair, I was in the same section at the same time, so I’m not judging.
But it did make me think that dictionaries and thesauri really need to make a comeback. Granted, I have a dictionary and know how to use it, but I will still ask Google the meaning of a word before I reach for a dictionary on my shelf. Same thing when I need to find an alternate word when I’m writing. It’s just quicker.
However, I think the actual act of looking up words in both books and knowing what to do with the information once you find a word are skills that are quickly being lost to the digital generations. Soon they’ll be as extinct as the dinosaurs. Let’s not let that happen. Let’s bring back dictionaries and thesauri. Make it so that every household has a little reference shelf like I did growing up.
Like I said, I don’t know why that kid was needing to buy a dictionary, but I hope that whatever his reason was, it leads him to great success. Who knows? Maybe he’s the next Stephen King and I just helped him find a tool to make his writing better. Time will tell.
Leave a Reply