It’s Samuel Johnson’s birthday today … so there are lots of interesting articles popping up all over the place. For all you budding linguists, here are some links you may like to follow …
Google Arts and Culture has an editorial feature on Samuel Johnson’s dictionary with 25 weird and wonderful entries.
The Poetry Foundation discusses his poetic side – in his biography of Johnson, James Boswell said that Johnson’s “mind was so full of imagery, that he might have been perpetually a poet.”
The Telegraph explores ‘Who was Samuel Johnson?’
For all you quizzers, a link to a Guardian article, ‘How well do you know Samuel Johnson’s dictionary?’
And why not look at a digital edition of Johnson’s dictionary to find some unusual words for yourself …
I’m off for some quiddany I bought from a quacksalver (a real slubberdegullion if you ask me). Given his stultiloquence, I suspect I’ve been gecked!
Happy Birthday SJ!
Sara Thorne English Language 