Home > Author > Pip Williams
1 " Fortune favours the bold. "
― Pip Williams , The Dictionary of Lost Words
2 " ...convention [is] the most subtle but oppressive dictator.[Edith 'Ditte' Thompson] "
3 " I remember Lizzie apologizing to Mrs. Lloyd the first time she stayed to chat, for the chip in the cup.'A chip doesn't stop it from holding tea,' Mrs. Lloyd had said.[Esme Nicholl] "
4 " Menstruosity was the condition of being menstruous. And menstruous had once meant horribly filthy or polluted. Menstruous. Like monstrous. It came closest to explaining how I felt. Lizzie had called it “The Curse". She had never heard of menstruation and laughed when I said it. "
5 " There were so many words to describe the bleeding. Menstrue was the same as catamenia. It meant unclean blood. But what blood was clean? It always left a stain. "
6 " It is context...that gives meaning.[Harry Nicholl] "
7 " When Dr. Johnson undertook to compile his dictionary, he resolved to leave no word unexamined. This resolve was soon eroded when he realized that one inquiry only gave occasion to another, that book referred to book, that to scratch was not always to find, and to find was not always to be informed. "
8 " We can't always make the choices we'd like, but we can try to make the best of what we must settle for.'[Lizzie Lester] "
9 " It will find its way into the final volumes, I expect,' said Mr. [Fred] Sweetman when we discussed it. 'The poets will see to that. They have a way of adding nuance to the meaning of things. "
10 " A vulgar word, well placed and said with just enough vigour, can express far more than its polite equivalent. "
11 " Was it more obscene to say it, to write it, or to set it in type? On the breath it could taken by a breeze or crowded out by chatter; it could be misheard or ignored. On the page it was a real thing. It had been caught and pinned to a board, its letters spread in a particular way so that anyone who saw it would know what it was. "
12 " You are correct in your observation that words in common use that are not written down would necessarily be excluded. Your concern that some types of words, or words used by some types of people, will be lost to the future is really quite perceptive. "
13 " [Esme] 'What exactly is a good family, Da?'...[Harry Nicholl] 'Well, I supposed for some it's about reputation. Others, money. For others it might be education or good works.''But what does it mean for you?...Well?'...'Love, Essy. A good family is one where there is love. "
14 " Literately’ was used in a novel by Elizabeth Griffiths. While no other examples of use have been forthcoming, it is, in my opinion, an elegant extension of ‘literate’. Dr. Murray agreed I should write an entry for the Dictionary, but I have since been told it is unlikely to be included. It seems our lady author has not proved herself a ‘literata’- an abomination of a word coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge that refers to a ‘literary lady’. It too has only one example of use, but its inclusion is assured. This may sound like sour grapes, but I can’t see it catching on. The number of literary ladies in the world is surely so great as to render them ordinary and deserving members of the literati. "
15 " Bondmaid. It came back to me then, and I realized that the words most often used to define us were words that describe our function in relation to others. Even the most benign words - maiden, wife, mother - told the world whether we were virgins or not. What was the male equivalent of maiden? I could not think of it. What was the male equivalent of Mrs., of whore, of common scold? I looked out the window towards the scriptorium, the place where the definitions of all these words were being bedded down. Which words would define me? Which would be used to judge or contain? I was no maiden, yet I was no man’s wife. And I had no desire to be. "
16 " Sometimes I think there may be more than two sides. "
17 " I cannot overstate the benefits of a busy day for an anxious mind or a lonely heart. "
18 " Words define us, they explain us, and, on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us. "
19 " Some words are more than letters on a page, don't you think? They have shape and texture. They are like bullets, full of energy, and when you give one breath you can feel its sharp edge against your lip. "
20 " ...I realized that the words most often used to define us were words that described our function in relation to others. Even the most benign words- maiden, wife, mother - told the world whether we were virgins or not. What was the male equivalent of maiden? I could not think of it. What was the male equivalent of Mrs., of whore, of common scold?... Which words would define me? Which would be used to judge or contain? "
