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My job involves searching for 'lost' quotations - that is, trying to find out who came up with a quotable saying that lingers in someone's mind and which they wish to use for their own purpose and which they cannot find in conventional dictionaries of quotation.
Basic dictionaries no longer belong on paper; the greatest, the 'Oxford English Dictionary,' has nimbly remade itself in cyberspace, where it has doubled in size and grown more timely and usable than ever.
I have always loved the fluidity of language - delighting in dialects, dictionaries, slang and neologisms.
At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.
I'm very sensitive to the English language. I studied the dictionary obsessively when I was a kid and collect old dictionaries. Words, I think, are very powerful and they convey an intention.
I love learning about different dialects and I own all sorts of regional and time-period slang dictionaries. I often browse through relevant ones while writing a story. I also read a lot of diaries and oral histories.
Spellings are made by people. Dictionaries - eventually - reflect popular choices.
I spoke Spanish when I was three, and then Maltese. I love dictionaries. I like foreigners. My dad moved every year before I was 14, and I learnt to like abroad. I'm not scared of change.
My desk is like a 'U,' so I have my computer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live in English.
Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
