The
Dictionary: Father of Scholars
The wise guy that nicknamed the
dictionary as “the father
of mules” committed a grave
injustice to humanity, or at least
to the humanity of the Portuguese
language. But really, kidding or
not, just how many people keep away
from the lexicon and avoid consulting
it to appear cult and self-sufficient?
It’s a shame because a good
or even a poor dictionary never
did any harm to anyone, but could
do the contrary, perhaps helping
out a lot. A dictionary is a God-sent
auxiliary for anyone, at the moment
of clearing up doubts. With it,
we can quickly and easily clear
up doubts and affirm certainties
about orthography and word meanings,
always coming to the rescue, like
a ray of sunshine on a rainy day.
A dictionary, if human, would certainly
be considered to be the most intelligent
of all teachers.
There
are dictionaries for all uses and
users in the world today, the most
popular being that of synonyms,
even the analogical ones, which
give all associated ideas, too.
There are dictionaries for all needs:
grammar, antonyms and synonyms,
etymological, proper name dictionaries,
of verb conjugation, of pronunciation,
of slang, of technical terms, historical,
geographical, philosophical, biblical,
everything…
It looks crazy, but there is even
one for cuss words, edited a couple
of years ago, with all the shameless
exaggeration that could be possibly
expounded in the everyday Portuguese
language. I have a dictionary about
women of the Bible, another of mythology
and still another dealing with difficult
points of the Portuguese language.
When
someone is very rich, or thinks
so, isn’t lucky enough, or
doesn’t know how to escape
from the hypnotic sales pitch of
booksellers, he will buy beautiful
dictionaries and encyclopedias,
of many volumes, luxurious, appropriate
for decorating bookshelves, in the
living room, if possible. They are
gorgeous outside, golden, brilliant,
truly exquisite jewels, marvelous
to be seen and touched. On the majority
of times, these treasures are kept
on the shelf, unused, because the
quantity of wisdom contained in
these volumes is sometimes so great
that the advantages they offer are
minimally explored, only to be awakened
if they are finally discovered by
some school children, who are always
ready to copy down anything they
find, to rack up a few extra points
at the end of the semester. How
good it would be if people would
use them, as they should be…
constantly! And how happy they would
be if they started taking advantage
of the immense wealth contained
inside.
Of course, it is clear that Schools
should promote more research, research
to be executed with these precious
tools of wisdom. This would immediately
lead to great gains at the social
level of common knowledge of the
Portuguese language, as much in
orthography as well as in the proper
meaning of words. When someone comes
to the point of valorizing their
language, and shows interest in
it, realizing that in every word
is contained a universe of life
and power, the road to culture is
already half walked. The dictionary
is a vehicle of individual and collective
use, silent, always ready to transport
its users to a wonderland of reality
and enchantment. Don’t be
afraid of using them, during the
day or at night. The dictionary
is our most generous friend, patiently
waiting for us, our Friend and comrade!
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