Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language

The Futility of Linguistic Prescription

When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases…

Jan 12, 2015 1 1

• descriptivism
• language
• prescriptivism