Evening star., 1924-12-06

Crossword puzzle fans who take
their new occupation seriously---and
all true fans do--by all means ought
to own q copy OF Rogets "Thesaurus.'
II you are going TO do anything
| even crossword puzzles--you ought
to do 1t with all your might and
main. put the best you have into the
work. do the thing right, not half
way.
What is the sense of puZzling your
brain over better word for some
! other word when by turning to such
| a book as the Thesaurus. for in
stance. you can put your hand on the
very word You want in about IL
| seconds? ~
keep himself from getting very cross.
indeed, owesNit to his immortal soul
and 20 the remainder of his family to
HE himself down TO a bookstore.
There let him purchase the new
1924 tdition OF "Roget's International
Thesaurus OF English Words and
Phrases" edited by G. o. Sylvester
Mawson and published by Thomas Y.
Croweli CO.. New York.
He will take home not only a most
interesting treasury OF English words
and phrases, but also one OF the chi ef
works that ought to be on the table
Of every one who has come under the
charm OF tho oheckered squares.
49, X ~ n
| 1T has seemed to me for many years
| that too few people knew about
| Roget's "Thesaurus. just as there are
not enough men and wom en- who use
| the, dictionary. And those who had
| cnpy,% or access to one. referred to
| 1t too seldom, IT seemed.
The hrst copy ] had OF this work
was one OF the old ones. in dark
| brown cover. a rather forbiddtng
volume, filed with undiscriminated
| rows Of words. About 1914 j pur-
| chased one OF the large-type re-
visions and found IL much easier TO
use, but still suffering from lack OF
differentiation of synonyms.
So l would urge any one purchas-
| ing Tliesaurus TO be sure and gei
| the 1925 edition-the date is at the
| bottom of the title page--in order &c
get the advantage of some decided
| improvements made in the new edi-
! ton. The word 'internationar' ir
| the title is the marker OF this edition
| Now that the crossword puzzle
! has come along, II may be that the
vogue OF this intellectual diversion
| may relntroduce in a large way 10
| the American public the new-old
Thesaurus, which has been on the
desks OF writer's for scores of years
Your grandfather probably had q
copy. Every household interested il
our wonderful language would be the
| better for possessing it. Maybe you
| would not refer to IL very much, but
| like the Atlantic Monthly, 1t gives
one a feeling OF intellectual decency
| That is a great help.
The international Thesaurus," &C
| cording to Dr. Mawson, differs from
! it's predecessors in its enlarged list
| of synonyms: it's special grouping o.
| comparisons and associated terms
It's systematization Of scientific ant
| technical terminology; tho regroup'
! ing OF synonyms, so that each para
I graph consists OF words more or les:
! related and Interchangeable; the
| characterization OF all obsolete, OBJ
| solescent, rare, archaic. colloQuial
| dialectal and slang words. as we'll a:
| all British, foreign and special terms
as Is done In the best dictionaries
| the giving Of plurals in all cases ot
| unusual dfficulty: the addition OF nu
| merous phrases and idioms; the in
| clusion of many citations from mod
| ern authors, felicitous and keen ir
! phrase and thought.
The fourth OF these changes, from
! an inspection of the latest edition
! seems to me the most important Tht
great fault OF the old editions wal
that the word lists wers absolutely
\ lacking IN any Determinations. 81
| that words were grouped together il
| such fashion that one had to be
scholar to use the book.
| Ono shuddered at the prospect Of /;
| student selecting a synonym from