The Basic Set

The Chicago Manual of Style. 13th edition, 1982. University of Chicago Press. 0-226-10390-0

It seems superfluous to comment on the Chicago Manual, given its pre-eminence among editors trained in North America; but perhaps the very dominance of its position should encourage caution in how we use it. We should always remember its origins as a style book for a particular university press, and avoid the temptation to take it as a source of universally correct language points. I keep my copy near to hand whenever I sit down to work, because the Chicago Manual is a source of reliable answers to the basic questions one often has about marking up and otherwise correcting a text. I don’t always accept its advice, but more often than not it is invaluable as a way to structure my thinking. For editors who work with international English and with foreign languages represented in English, it is an essential reference: its ‘Foreign Languages in Type’ section is particularly valuable, as are its numerous references to non-North American and non-English points of style. It is currently in its 14th edition, but I am still happily using the 13th edition without any ill effects.

The Collins Gem Dictionary of English Spelling. 1993. Harper Collins. 0-00-458725-1

This book was recommended to me by a typographer as a reliable guide to manual hyphenation, because the automatic hyphenation in most page layout software ought never to be trusted by professional typesetters. It is a magnificent little book: lightweight, pocket size, and with a soft vinyl cover, it can travel with you anywhere; it contains over 60,000 words with complete inflections, regional and non-standard variant words and spellings, and, of course, hyphenation. Although I bought it to supplement my now dormant work as a typesetter, I find that I still use it almost every day. It is faster to use than a standard dictionary and more reliable than a computer spell checking system. I was also pleased to discover that it includes ‘Fukuoka’ in its comprehensive and thoughtful listing of place names. It is a mistake to assume that English orthography is entirely standardized, and this dictionary can help writers and editors study and practise humility in spelling.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary. 8th edition, 1990. Oxford University Press. 0-19-861200-1

A decent desk dictionary should always include word origins; it should be small enough to fit comfortably in the hands while remaining comprehensive enough to be useful. Beyond these self-evident points, we should consider two questions about why we choose to buy one dictionary and not another. First, do we trust it? Does it offer convincing and well supported definitions? Does it offer a wide selection of different kinds of words: not just ‘standard usage’ but variants and regional usage as well? Second, and perhaps just as important, we should consider why we trust a dictionary. From what I know of how they collect and use information about language, I trust Oxford and Collins; of these two publishers, I usually buy Oxfords. It helps to have a standard word to look up whenever you meet a new dictionary. My ‘test word’ is ‘gazebo’. I chose this word because it is common, but not too common, and because its origins are curiously obscure. Oxford hedges its bets, and I respect that.

Roget’s Thesaurus. New edition, 1998 (1999). Penguin. 4-943835-19-8

Among the basic reference books, Roget’s thesaurus is probably the easiest to misuse. The act of writing is, in part, a business of selecting from among a range of words with similar meanings. Some writers believe that this is like collecting butterflies: one casts about with a net until one can catch and pin the prettiest specimen. They treat Roget as a butterfly collector would a flower-filled field in springtime. Indispensable as it is, the thesaurus cannot help us to find ‘just the right word’ because it is not a compilation of synonyms: it is a dictionary of ideas. This is the essence of why Roget’s book is so brilliant: one does not look up words, but clouds of meaning within which one can encounter words. If you don’t already know what you want to say, don’t bother with the thesaurus: to use it properly, you must first know what you intend to mean; you can then use the thesaurus to help you convey that meaning with precision. I use the 1999 Penguin paperback edition of Betty Kirkpatrick’s 1998 updated version. My copy was sold as a ‘Maruzen special’ with a paper dust jacket printed for this Japanese bookseller. The same edition is often available now at their twice-yearly clearance sales of foreign language books for a lot less than I paid for it.

2002-05-22

Date posted: 2003-09-15