Tales from the editorial trenches: Why dictionaries are (still) beautiful things.

Irregardless. It’s always among the Top 5 terms in the sorry-that’s-not-an-actual-word versus well-it’s-most-definitely-a-word-because-it’s-so-frequently-used follies.

All of us who spend a portion of time vetting others’ copy have tales from the editorial trenches that go beyond the occasional irregardless. Incorrect usage issues abound: Consider, please, looser, a term that, weirdly, has replaced loser to indicate failure. And bias, itself not a wrong word but one that frequently tries to serve as a past tense, e.g., I don’t watch that network because all the reporters are bias! Like some things, um, ED, biased is, apparently, bad. And then there’s flustrated, a contemporary (and too-often seen) portmanteau of flustered and frustrated (more about this later).

A few years ago, while reviewing an intern’s marketing draft, I was stumped by his inclusion of enervating as a wellness program benefit; several passes later, I realized he thought enervating was a blend of energizing and invigorating. I returned his copy with edits and a gentle hint that he double check the meaning of enervating in that trusty dictionary that came with his desk. He promised vigilance in his future copy and then asked, “Well, it sounds good so can we use it anyway?” Sigh.

On this topic I speak from humiliating experience, having had — long ago and in another century– my own version of enervate-gate. The night before a presentation on the Italian Renaissance for my eighth-grade history class, I replaced the word artisan with artesian, unwisely thinking (much like my erstwhile intern) sound almost the same, must mean the same. I had slides, I had facts and I had, I was sure, a presentation that would garner an easy A.

Alas, not to be. My teacher pointed out my error to the class after I’d completed my report. And knocked me down to a B for carelessness.

Was I mortified (that is to say, more mortified than usual, being a tortured adolescent)? Indeed. But I learned something with that humiliation and a print dictionary has evermore been among my most kindred of spirits (a wee valentine for you Anne of Green Gables readers out there).

Dictionaries are beautiful things, dedicated to the triumvirate of language — spelling, definition and sentence structure. For some, dictionaries are bulky tomes or softcover mini-editions, for others a quick click to multiple online resources. Unfortunately, today’s increasing reliance on spell and grammar check makes it easy to forget that dictionaries exist for that most excellent of reasons: to ensure the absolute rightness of words.

Granted, we can’t learn if we don’t err. It’s when the error is dismissed with comments like “it’s close enough” or “my computer didn’t catch it” (the latter quickly becoming the invocation of the Information Age) that the mistakes compound and start being accepted as accurate because they’re so frequently seen (kind of like, you know, horrid irregardless). Relying exclusively on software is an open door for error (and imminent embarrassment).

For the moment, anyway. The aforementioned flustrated now has presence in various online dictionaries — why, sweet world, why? — although whether it’s an actual term remains up for debate. As for irregardless, I’m part of the not-a-real-word faction, although some cyber resources tell me I’m wrong.

Yes, language is fluid — and perhaps software will one day have the embedded authority to catch all errors, rendering external lexicons obsolete. Until then, keep a dictionary on your bookshelf or in your bookmarks. And use it. Your readers will thank you.

About the author: Lisa Gordon Wither

Lisa Gordon Wither, a Clevelander-turned-Californian, has been a professional writer and editor for more than 25 years. She began her career as a writer in the health care industry, building an extensive portfolio for clients such as the University of California system and Times-Mirror. Lisa is the co-author of Without Hesitation: Speaking to the Silence and the Science of Stuttering (2010) with distinguished University of California physician Gerald A. Maguire, M.D.