Roget’s Thesaurus at 160

Bereavement to orientation tomes!

Apr 30th 2012, 15:44 by C.S.W. | NEWCASTLE

PETER MARK ROGET was, by all accounts, a bit of a nerd. Some kids collect stamps; others meticulously record baseball scores. Mr Roget made lists. Though many grow out of their childish obsessions, the British lexicographer didn’t. Aged 26, he began compiling lists of synonyms “to supply my own deficiencies” in language: God knows what he’d make of the lexically-challenged stars of Jersey Shore. He laboured over his list for 47 years, and at the grand old age of 73 finally felt willing to release it into the world. On April 29th, 1852—160 years ago yesterday—its first edition went on sale. Mr Roget wrote in its preface that he hoped it might “prove useful to others.” Little did he know he had created Frankenstein’s monster.

Pity the former president of the United States who thought his first term paper at boarding school lacked a certain oomph, and reached for his copy of "Roget’s Thesaurus". A poignant moment, in which the future president mourns his sisters death, has “lacerates” rolling down his cheek. No prizes for guessing the culprit: it was the 43rd inhabitant of the White House. As George W. Bush later learned, though spelled identically, “tears” (as in crying) and “tears” (as in ripping up) are not even homonyms, much less synonyms. And therein lies the problem with thesauri: they are deaf to nuance and context, and so almost no one uses them correctly.

Thesauri should add buff and polish, rather than substance, to a work. But linguistic overreach becomes much easier when you think you have the weight of a four-volume thesaurus behind you. The perceived power of the thesaurus causes users to choose flowery language when more utilitarian words will do not only just as well, but better. If the writer is struggling so much that he must consult a thesaurus, what hope does the reader have?

Today most people don’t meet the humble thesaurus in print, but through computers. Most good word processors these days come with a huge database behind the scenes, allowing easy access to a variety of synonyms with little more than a click of the mouse. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Take the title of this post, for example: it began life as “Death to the thesaurus” before being mangled into meaninglessness by Microsoft Word.

There is also the concern of accuracy. To quote perhaps the worlds most educated fictional egg, “when Iuse a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Humpty Dumpty was not wrong. Words are like people: each is unique, with unique strengths and weaknesses. Some may be similar-looking, and even share some of the same characteristics, but they cannot be simply swapped one for the other. It would be like firing an architect and hiring a builder instead. Both are employed in getting structures set upright, but that does not make them interchangeable.

Roget had an admirable goal: he hoped to educate and expand the vocabulary of his readers. But he always intended his thesaurus to be used in conjunction with dictionaries. Today, thesauri seem relics of the past, useful mainly for children taking their first steps into language and learning the ways to describe new feelings, emotions and objects. 40 million copies of Roget’s work are out there in the wild, giving people false hope in their linguistic abilities. 160 years is two human lifetimes: perhaps the thesaurus’s time on this earth is up.

« Business language: Useful, yes. But mandatory?

Bereavement to orientation tomes!

May 1st 2012, 09:17

There are many directions for our writing better articles. One of these is to use proper words delivering meanings as well as expanding individual word bank or say exploring your own vision. On my way to learn English, I experienced serious grammar, the piles of vocabulary and basic sentence structure during my childhood. That is a somewhat bitter but worthy of investment. The only point which let me feel unhappy is that the cram school was run by the aunt of hateful Hsiao Bi-Khim, Taiwan’s incumbent legislator who annoys me by encouraging Taiwan’s independence from Beijing’s China. Thereafter, there were three processes of my evolution of English language, including collocation, thesaurus and well-organized outline.

The most important key to my English writings is indeed thesaurus. The precisely chosen words always lead me to get the sense of achievement and then inspire me to another writings. During my college life, I often talked about how to promote English writings by using dictionary and other kinds of reference on Taiwan’s PTT board with my political work for fifth-generation China’s Communist Party. The talks of thesaurus, especially, make me have some good friends in other universities. I have introduced some dictionaries and shared useful tips about thesaurus, several years before.

Basically, a studious learner needs a learning dictionary along with an advanced reference like some collegiate dictionary, sometimes more than two or three books. I mainly refer to Macmillan English Dictionary (1st and 2nd) and Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (11th) as my tools for conspicuous progress. These two dictionaries are good for my demand. BBI combinatory dictionary can satisfy my aspect of proper English collocation while writing. Besides, I concern that thesaurus is a shortcut to the advanced level. In reality, too many sayings of how to choose good “thesaurus” referrence and too many kinds of publisher about this are both seriously prevalent in the world. From numerous press publishing thesaurus, I always advise others to pick up two kinds - Philip D. Morehead’s “The New American Roget’s Thesaurus” by The Penguin Group and Barbara Ann Kipfer’s “Roget’s 21th century”by Random House. I think that Dr. Philip’s edition is both closet to the original edition and useful to explore one’s word bank.

In the page “How to use this thesaurus” of Dr. Philip’s edition, the first two sentences say “Peter Mark Roget was an English physician who was born in 1779 and who died in 1869. As a hobby he liked to make lists of words and group them together when they were related to one another.” Also in this page, there is the meanings of “Thesaurus”- “In 1852, Mr. Rogets list of words was published. He called the book a thesaurus, or treasury, of words.”

Thesaurus always reminds us of better description for improving our English proficiency. The idea of thesaurus also can be used to learn and study in other languages, even in different language families. With the rapid development of Internet and convenient mobile phone, there are more chances to learn English and better directions of studying English, either EFL or ESL. In my HTC android phone, Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary, containing thesaurus - synonyms and antonyms, works very well assisting in my English studies. Thesaurus may continue to accompany me along the colourful English life.

Well, let me show an useful website for English learners, especially for those who know Chinese. Chen Chien-Chi (George Chen), a Taiwanese, is good at introducing and criticizing various kinds of paper dictionaries, CD-ROM dictionary and the hottest Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Mr. Chen is one of few Taiwanese who focuses on the relation of English dictionaries and learnings. This blog started in July 2005, experiencing the long-term acknowledgement. Seven years later, this blog still provides me with the way of advanced learning English. Also offer you this good experience:

http://georgechen.idv.tw/wordpress/ (in traditional Chinese)

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筆者在這篇當年小借題發揮，除了稍事說明Thesaurus的正統和演化，也順帶提了一下語言學習小心得。筆者在從幼稚園離開後的8月1日即將進小學一年級之際，就加入英語補習的行列。就是當年新北新莊華城道生幼稚園的旁邊的凱琳美語，現在是七至九年級的課輔補習班。這間是現任民進黨立委蕭美琴她家人開的，經營來給蕭委員當年去美國讀哥倫比亞大學的學費。不過筆者並沒有陪她愛同一國的台灣。這間是教兒童英語和基礎的英語觀念，其實背的單字回憶起來並不多，不過有把所有的文法和常見句型，比如副詞片語的修釋都教過了。在那裡待了四年，從yoyo&nana讀本和英國的Denis Dragon，以及劉毅出版社的初階綠色本子的劉毅英文法，當年一本才一百塊錢而已，和兒童閱讀課本六冊加上兩本陳榴（玉部）俐老師的閱讀測驗讀本。字典是老師說要自備的，家裡用的是三民書局的簡明英漢字典第一版和表姐給的英業達集團出品的無敵CD-65，後來在國小六年級有添購無敵CD-67並買了牛津英英辭典第四版的擴充卡。東森新聞的溫淑梅主播當年就是在那邊以輔系英語系的身份當隔璧班的鴕鳥老師。

小時候上課就是團體課，從階梯教室和電視教學，雖然有作聽力教學，但是到了十年前筆者二十歲出頭的聽力能力還是有些吃力，舊制TOEIC 2006年12月聽力測驗的分數只有380分（閱讀測驗410分）。在筆者小學二至三年級時團體課有比筆者大五、六歲的國中生，多為大了兩、三歲的學生。印象中老師有三個，一個是輔大英語系工讀生Winnie老師，從ABC開始教的，一位是台大外文系考上輔大織品紡織研究所的畢業生，這個時候還有六位學生，他們都比筆者大兩、三歲，第三位是太極門創辦人的媳婦，輔大英語系剛畢業的老師，是幾十年前補教名師殷非凡稍微遠的親戚，加上當時升到四年級的筆者剩三名過了一年又兩個月的日子，三對一教學，另外兩名是六年級和國中二年級的一對姐弟。第一位的老師教第二到第四本的劉毅兒童英語綜合課本簡寫是LSWE(20201106補充：Lets Start With English)與Denis Dragon英國的小學會話課本，第二位是教到第五本，及因為小班教學所以還會教英語小遊戲，第三位是第六本及一些講義，還滿顧到中國學生的需求，後來因為那對姐弟沒有再繼續補習了所以就解散了。筆者學的語法是從那本基礎英文法開始的，幾乎花一年多整本都要先背完，有些字彙是在這本學的，加上課本的字彙，算起來有要三千多字彙（比如happy和happiness算起來是兩個字），雖然有背過基本語法，可是只是背中英對照字義，應用略顯困難，評量時只以「照樣造句」的方式處理，對筆者來說很簡單，但是實際應用寫作仍然不夠，若以英語作文湊字連起來造，就算有翻字典查用法和慣用語，仍有中式英語的問題，大概就是制式中翻英和英翻中能力還不錯，如果和台北市的一流學生比，補了這四年口說反應力也比較差。課本還不錯是小短文，從100字到200-250字左右，要會背也要記單字習慣用法和照樣造句。這間很保守，是閱讀為主的教學，團體課如果有要口說是中英夾雜上課，車輪戰輪流討論，評分有期中期末考和平時表現，很鬆也沒留什麼人級。

到了升六年級的暑假時候進入何嘉仁美語新莊分校，現在還在新北新莊的中港路和公園路口，曾經有間當地李明欽國中數學教室在樓下過。也很巧的那時讀銘傳大學，現在也在東森新聞很紅的韓佩穎主播是這間分校的工讀生。經過櫃台人員一題一題比對拿期末考測驗單字和翻譯造句能力，從五級開始問起，超過80分過了四級，筆者從九級開始讀起，上課有故事讀本，例如Emma ＆ Haunted House，Dragon Boat Festival 、Moon Festival ，會話圖文夾雜的課本兩本，一本偏慣用語比如天氣、看病口語辭彙，另一本是造口語句型能力，比如What on earth、WH問句中不用do, does, did但是以動詞字尾加s或過去式型態造問句、各類複雜的附加問句還有用ought, might及What if、How long之類WH延伸問法，和文法句型講義從關係詞附屬句再提起，後者很簡單幾年前就會了，但是辭彙超過一半沒有看過如拜拜的香和廟宇，看病的喉嚨痛等字，有期中期末考也有作文習作時間，筆者上到精修班兩級，三至六級沒有繼續上，精修班是薄薄一本紫色的書，有短文閱讀，約300-400字及進階辭彙，換算起來是5000-10000字彙難度，其實不太固定，精修班的閱讀文章品質事後才知道不太適合EFL外語學習者，與語言學延伸小討論如同反義字、小短文或進階文法如倒裝句的用法，全外語上課沒什麼意義，那位討論起來很冷場，倒是一個班25-26人分三堆坐倒是最左和最右互相以全英語對罵十分精采，中間的女生群和外語老師常只能乾瞪眼。

不過就功利主義上，這兩間的課程內容筆者在升學考試路上大部份來說，還滿有用。比如說當年因為有台灣省精省前，筆者所讀的新北市立新莊國中有獲全省十大示範英語學校，拿經費所舉辦的「英語演講比賽」寫了一篇「The Beauty of Taiwan」台灣之美，評論文章比較是的那篇二年級一等獎。台灣之美美在哪裡呢？正好在當時「認識台灣社會篇」有綜合說法，從農田農人的辛苦到以台灣水牛比喻台灣精神，有點中國國民黨本土派的一種說法，從日治時期提一些初步的工業化建設，這是筆者首次對外的文章，用中文構圖像和句子，然後一段段的敘述，要如何延伸努力奮鬥的美德，這些辭彙、相關主題字及意象筆者在當時國中二年級充實了我一整個月，在三分鐘多兩秒唸完。

筆者國中升上高中循甄選入學途徑，英語滿分50考了38分，有30題一題一分的聽力測驗及一題2分的5題翻譯題與一題10分的翻譯題。聽說這分數是當年最高的。筆者國中時在英語方面的能力累積主要是讀那台吳炳鍾教授的電子辭典，就是記文法和寫測驗題。那本電子辭典還有中外歷史年表和國語辭典可以讓少年時代的筆者準備升學考試。高中就是背參考書的辭彙，因為陳明華老師希望打破課本，要以EFL上課模式，所以有自己的講義，筆者邊抄寫邊作編輯的。建中的高一、二規定要用彭蒙惠英語的中級本，空中英語教室，當時還充斥著用口說溝通法，筆者很不喜歡，筆者很講究語法，算是被國小時候的那間新北新莊中港路的補習班訓練的，使用大量閱讀法，此法的口說雖弱，但是可以用閱讀小說和故事來彌補口語的不足，比如Sophie Kinsella 的麗貝卡系列，是盧秀芳和黃文華主播當年所推薦的，從「購物狂的異想世界」和John Grisham「Broker」(在2005出版的)口袋書系列開始看起這些Dell(Bantan，即Random House 旗下品牌)或Simon&Schuster等現代小說、又如Amy Tan的「The Joy Luck Club」，或是經典文學的內容比如是Penguin系列有「Pride & Prejudice」、Collins Classics「Alices Adventures in Wonderland」及現代電影小說 Gabriel García Márquez寫的「Love in the Time of Cholera」(愛在瘟疫蔓延時)，最近數月筆者更是在讀和John Grisham齊名的Ken Follett的長河兩次世界大戰歷史小說Century Trilogy「Fall of Giants」、「Winter of the World」、「Edge of Eternity」。而寫作和口說都可以訓練得到的是透過讀名人傳記與暢銷商業政治書如Richard S. Tedlow「Andy Grove- The Life and Times of an American」第一部授權傳記、Warren Buffet 的「The Snowball」到現任美國總統川普的傳記David C. Johnston的「The Making of Donald Trump」（筆者是川粉XD）及筆者在之前在回顧中國問題研究的文章所提者如研究毛澤東、趙紫陽和鄧小平的著作，大部份都是數十年學有專精的人文歷史名作。

當時筆者算還是和台北市的貴族中學生他們，在他們進建中有六、七千字彙量的能力來比差了一大截，筆者從在何嘉仁美語學校待兩年後，慢慢使用英業達集團的無敵牌電子辭典，這本的查單字的時候，筆者會先使用漢英辭典查相關字，英漢字典及牛津的第五版辭典，會從例句注意用法和注解，有詞性：名詞就是要注意單復數形，比如person-people和tooth-teeth等，形容詞有限定用法和敘述用法，動詞有接受詞用法的及物動詞和單獨和主詞連結即可成完整句義的不及物動詞，另外就是接多個受詞（兼有原形動詞或動名詞）的與格動詞家族和接修飾主詞的形容詞的連綴動詞。句子結構就是主句合句子句、複句合句複合句，配合連接詞的組合來造句。在筆者當年回文也有說筆者開始用換句話說來避免中式英語及脫漏字而辭不達意的問題，比如想說「一個絕佳嚴謹的短文風格」(參考Macmillan English Dictionary 2nd 舉例) an excessively mannered prose style，以前也許造句時（筆者回不太去很白話的英語寫作時光哈）會用關系代名詞an excellent writing style that showed severeity. 後句則稍嫌籠統，有了manner就好多了，所以GRE辭彙還是要作擴充的。或是以前會造For me, its happy to see his simple style of writing. 這句很俗，如果知道find有一構句用法（書林出版吳帆老師的字彙贏家p156）及精鍊字enjoyable, pellucid就很簡潔有力：I find his pellucid style of writing very enjoyable.有時參考東華書店的郭岱宗老師的兩本「戰勝英語寫作1&2」也有些許效果。經濟學者這篇很不錯的再一次提醒筆者，除了名翻譯家陳建志老師的部落格有提Thesaurus之外，這篇讓我再考慮除了有時候要注意相關字詞的聯想，搭配詞的造句也要並行不悖。不過根據過來人說明，Longman的釋例到了4th updated ed 兩片光碟那本時很夠有半本BBI的功效。筆者用的exam版很夠用了。

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印象中在2015年前筆者少數幾篇在國際上被關心過而有意義的文章（不是被經濟學者雜誌編輯關心），大部份這裡的粉絲不是像現在易思安大力鼓吹台獨，就是嫌句子平淡，包括眾議院前議長John Boehner及前任美國駐北京大使 Jon Huntsman 現任是駐莫斯科大使等，這篇「Terms of Imprisonment」是算這七年來中上的稍有美中不足的構句，不過在國際政治目的上是筆者作出少數成功的例子。舉縮句成功的例子和修改：「His charisma of youth, localization and international view, failing to re-elect in Taipei, had him win 2000s election and successfully built a brilliant achievement by a nod of DPPs then utmost Huang Hsin-jie.」修改一點是have前面加nonetheless作比較清楚對比，這句注意特點的因果關係和陪襯一小個補語，是因為黃信介的首肯，是指其排除許信良和陳文茜的反對，陳前總統和呂秀蓮才有候選人資格、「“The third way”, advocated by then British prime minister Tony Blair, was also taken as his political direction on his ideology of Taiwans unity.」縮略成political ideology durecting Taiwans interior unity. 比如要突顯第三條路，就擺在句首，把相關字抓出有英國首相、政治意識型態及指導然後造一句出來。這篇是用5000-7000字彙程度為主來寫，如果當時有就好好用到GRE辭彙筆者這篇應該更有效果吧，不過瞄一瞄要更換的詞也不多呵。這篇被李克強總理當年允許的陳前總統的傳記，就是禁書中的禁書啦，筆者到時遇到會作精選和詳細討論的。

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在2001-04讀建中的時候，筆者的英語學習遇到不喜歡體制內課本的陳明華老師，之後是EFL式的教學，其實和補習班字彙閱讀班大綱很像，準備指考和學測都很好用。除了遠東和龍騰版的課本（前一屆留給學弟的，按照傳統留在教室供下一節有緣的來拿），就是當年貝塔語言出版社的王復國老師，他是前任輔大英語系的系主任，有一套雖供全民英檢，但其實是按照他所任教系所的語言能力標準，劃分初、中、中高及高級（高級市面上書店找不到）。筆者在高二下進入暑假時，陳老師給了一本Time Express時代解讀，那期是有阿扁夫人吳淑珍的專訪 “Im not the kind of person who hides and sheds tears in the dark. I fight hardship in my life”。旋元佑那時還算年青氣盛翻得很好，大概說了一些用法，筆者收了起來。從此研發既要從Time數出單字數和文法用法，也要注意留心句型結構，筆者很重轉折語，養成一段段看，邊看邊挑詩眼一樣。慢慢從遠東出版的題海套書，改成和托福或多益的補習班很像的讀法及接觸真實語料的刊物及網頁。2004年大學學測英語的翻譯題：「唯有努力，我們才能成功」即是殷非凡老師在這套講解倒裝句的第一題練習題：「Only by working hard can we succeed.」背出來就得分了。Time Express是筆者有一陣子的回憶，從決定重考到長庚大學及休學，陪伴筆者的一陣子榮枯到最後一期。筆者在2005年的上半年準備重考時，按照陳明華老師的台灣培生公司的題本大概有了7000字數的能力，安排的方面是訓練凌晨一點多到接近兩點半在讀這本Time Express，熟到有時候文章有很深的印象。

學英語很枯燥，但是在苦背單字和用法的初階和中階英語能力時候，在小學六年級筆者有了第一片迪士尼的英語歌，是滾石唱片的黃金授權版，含Disney Classics II和III，跟著歌本讀英語，之後有一片Walt Disney「Mulan」的原聲帶。高中一年級時買了轟動業界，貴族唱片出版的三片原唱世紀情歌。「Smoke Gets in Your Eyes」和「Just When I Needed You Most」的旋律是筆者永生難忘的回憶。這可以幫助活絡4000-7000常用辭彙的表達能力。

筆者沒有什麼訓練聽力。筆者在高二時下學期最後一次聽力測驗佔20分，只拿了5分。筆者當時不會在呼，反正升學考試又不考聽力測驗。筆者繼續食古不化自己的，反正興趣來學的語言。二十歲那年跑去考個TOEIC(2006年12月)，聽力495分也有380分，不過TOEFL-ITP就只有很低的50分啦(語法64、閱讀57)。那一年間筆者會在PTT的英語學習及TOEIC版爬文和分享一些學習類書籍。筆者聽力大部份是透過考試用書兩三年，後來電腦科技比較發達，就可以看線上串流Live streaming的外國新聞網站，比如NHK World的英語版新聞網頁，透過Adobe Flash Player，也配合光碟版辭典邊讀邊查。同時還是要拿TOEFL和GRE的單字書。台灣最大的牌就是書林書店的許章真老師和吳帆老師，筆者讀大學時的台北英語留學補習班是盛傳Barron系列單字書是首選，因此筆者買的是「Basic Word List」，這是一本很簡便的英英小同義詞典，這之前笛藤曾經購買台灣的影印本版權，書名是「字庫王」，在背完高中7000字彙後就是讀書林應試高手系列的許章真老師的「托福字彙滿分」及「最重要的100個英文字首字根(1997兩種：普及紀念和增訂都可以)」。書林翻譯成英漢版的是Barron另一套的牛仔褲系列「Barrons Pocket Guide to Vocabulary 4th」附mp3是非常划算的，中文書名是「托福●GRE●SAT字彙隨身讀」，這系列也有出Thesaurus。這書林的系列已經有超過16年照顧台灣的莘莘學子了。

（未完成）

＊這本New American Rogets Thesaurus in Dictionary Form (Revised & Updated)在安卓的Play Book有電子書版，既節能、環保又能夠原汁原味的Rogets Thesaurus喔

*附Peter Mark Roget Britannica 2013版的生平事略：

Roget studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and later helped found the medical school at Manchester. In 1814 he invented a “log-log” slide rule for calculating the roots and powers of numbers. From 1808 to 1840 he practiced in London. The first edition of the Thesaurus, which was begun in his 61st year and finished in his 73rd, was a product of his retirement from active medical practice, although it was based on a system of verbal classification he had begun in 1805. Roget was a fellow (from 1815) and secretary (from 1827) of the Royal Society.

MLA Style:   "Roget, Peter Mark." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.

*附Encarta 2009 Premium的Peter Mark Roget 生平說明

Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), English scholar and physician, who compiled the famous Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. He was born in London, and educated at the University of Edinburgh. His Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852), which went through 28 editions in his lifetime, is still a standard reference work.

Microsoft R Encarta R 2009. c 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.