Re: Are there any word/language guru's out there?

[Julie Holden <jholden -at- KBSI -dot- COM>]

suej -at- annamay -dot- bbn -dot- hp -dot- com wrote:
>Hi guys (notice the genderless term of address),

>this dork I just got rid of has paid me back by filling our Concepts
>Guide (meant for operators with hardly no technical knowledge at all),
>with massive words which will mean nothing to them at all. I've
>just about managed to find all of them, and provide alternative
>phrases that mean will something to the user, but this last one
>refuses to be influenced by my creative juices.

>Has anyone got any idea for a phrase I could use instead of the word
>"lexicographical", in the context of a listing (i.e. "nodes/templates
>are listed in lexicographical order")?

Sue--

First of all, I think that your dork didn't use the word lexicographical
correctly.  I'm sure you've looked it up already, but I was intrigued by
your question, so I broke out our big Webster's.  It defines lexicography
as "the editing or making of a dictionary."  I wonder, how exactly can a
list of nodes/templates be in lexicographical order?  Indeed, how can the
order of *anything* be lexicographical??

But to answer your question, I am guessing that this magniloquent snoot
(heh-heh...don't you just love thesauri??) means, quite simply,
*alphabetical*.

Y'see, one definition of lexicon is,
     The total stock of morphemes in a language.
Further, a morpheme is,
     A meaningful linguistic unit, whether a free form (as 'pin') or
     a bound form (as the '-s' of 'pins') that contains no
     smaller meaningful parts.
(Of course, all of this is coming from Mr. Webster, *not* my head....)
But anyway, one could, if reading the definition of lexicon too hastily,
misconstrue its meaning and think it a synonym for the word *alphabet*.
Hence, one might assume that lexicographical equals alphabetical.

Boy (notice the genderless interjection), I really do enjoy dictionary
browsing!  Thanks for the entertaining word puzzle, Sue!  I've no idea if
I'm right, but it was fun to learn all of those new and exciting words,
especially *magniloquent* ("speaking in or characterized by a high-flown,
often bombastic style or manner").

--Julie Holden