"Why shouldn't we quarrel
about a word? What is
the good of words if they
aren't important enough
to quarrel over? Why do
we choose one word
more than another if
there isn't any difference
between them?"
G.K. Chesterton
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Julie
Slee
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Editor
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 Novelist
Margaret Atwood wrote that a word after a word after a word is power. Your words
give shape to your knowledge and products and ambitions. They connect you to
your clients. Used well, they make you credible. Used poorly, they undermine
you.
A perfect word after a key word after a correct word is power. It's those
words that I want to help you find. My background includes four years of English
literature study at Otago University, where I finished with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons).
I've worked for Government departments (Lands and Survey, Conservation,
Education and Internal Affairs), a non-profit organisation and a local
authority. Writing and editing documents ranging from short stories to corporate
reports, essays to magazine articles to strategic plans, I've learned to keep
two things "up front": the message and the reader.
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Why The Leaning Dictionary?
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On the shelf above my desk the books are tightly packed, lined up, their
spines vertical. The dictionary, though, leans on one edge at the end of the
row, easy to pull out and always ready to use.
As a child I was fascinated by this book. I decided, with the optimism of a
10-year-old, to memorise the entire thing. Perhaps I made it as far as abdabs,
or abelian, or ab initio - I didn't get further through that old Oxford than a
couple of pages.
I still get excited looking for words. There is so much undiscovered, so much
to learn and think about in a single volume. On a desert island, given the
choice of just one book, I would choose my dictionary. And I can't imagine being
bored.
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