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Things That Bug Me, Volume 47
Posted by tgirsch

In another thread, a commenter used the word “pedantry.” While I was reasonably sure I knew what it meant, I thought I’d better look it up to be sure. Merriam-Webster’s on-line dictionary defines pedantry as follows:

1 : pedantic presentation or application of knowledge or learning
2 : an instance of pedantry

Gee, thanks a brick. Definition 1 defines the word in terms of another form of the word, and definition 2 uses the word itself in its own definition. Really helpful, guys. Well, at least they made pedantic a hyperlink to that definiton:

of, relating to, or being a pedant

Arrrrgh! Don’t these people understand? It’s really quite simple: If you know what “pedant” means, you’re almost certain to also know what “pedantic” and “pedantry” mean. And in the event that you know the first one, but need a dictionary to tell you the other two, you’re an idiot. Clicking through to pedant (also a hyperlink), finally yields:

1 obsolete : a male schoolteacher
2 a : one who makes a show of knowledge b : one who is unimaginative or who unduly emphasizes minutiae in the presentation or use of knowledge c : a formalist or precisionist in teaching

Which finally gives a useful definition, and confirms that what I thought the word meant (something roughly like 2b) really is what it means. But Christ, should you really have to click through three definitions to get to a useful one?

(Yes, I realize that some of this is a legacy of paper-and-binding dictionaries, where the definitions of all three words would have likely been on the same page, and immediately adjacent to one another. But if you’re going to do an on-line dictionary, get with the 20th century already and do it right…)

January 31st, 2007 I do too have a life | 2 comments