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| My old friend has been with me a long, long time |
My husband bought me a gorgeous new dictionary with a cover as soft as a flower petal but it was too big and just didn't feel right. Years later, after my dictionary completely lost it's cover and some of the pages, he tried again. This time, it was smaller and shouted the word, "expensive." I tried, but eventually gave both of them away.
My long-time friend, Marilyn, came to help me with the moving this summer. We always had 3 piles, Trash, Thrift and Save. She picked up old friend dictionary and said, (as she was depositing it in the trash pile) "this has to go."
"Oh no," I gasped, as I retrieved it from the trash. "Spell-check seems cold and brittle compared to old dictionary." I'm a terrible speller. She understood.
Dear Bloggie friends..... I'll wager you don't hang onto old worn-out goods, do you?
Manzi I wouldn't want to get rid of that either. Certain things are just timeless and you always want to keep. I have an old encyclopedia set that, with the advent of the internet, I have no practical use for. BUT I can't bring myself to part with it :)
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I have caved totally to electronics. What spell check doesn't give me, Google does and I love the hunt for information. Also Google is so polite. Even when I misspell my inquiry, it asks me very nicely if perhaps I might have meant------?? with the correct spelling.
ReplyDeleteMoving often has kept my keepables to family heirlooms.(Comment spell check didn't recognized "keepables" but Google said go for it):))
Yeah I'd keep it too
ReplyDeleteAs it works for you
And with its view
Brings comfort too
Not much I hold onto though
Here at my show
Optimistic Existentialist : Funny you should mention encyclopedias as I was thinking about them recently. It was the depression when I was young and we couldn't afford a set of encyclopedias. I absolutely yearned for encyclopedias because it would mean I'd have information in my home and wouldn't have to walk to the library. Well, now we have all that information and can sit in our ratty old bathrobes and retrieve it with a click. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd keep the encyclopedias, also. With all of our country dependent on electronics, what would happen if we went of the grid for any length of time?? Encyclopedias, here we come
I will never give up my 1961 Betty Crocker cook book or 1964 Cookie Cookbook by them.
ReplyDeleteHand written notes and food spills all over them.
Patti : Here is my depression childhood coming to the front. I always feel I have to have a back-up. I know, it's silly and that is exactly why I end up with so much stuff. I love most electronics and I say thanks over and over for all that information at my finger tips. I salute electronics too.
ReplyDeletePat, You younger people are lucky not to form attachments to "stuff.'I know why the oldies do.....We never had much (no I'm playing my violin) but when we did acquire something material, we placed such high value on it that now, it's like an old friend and difficult to toss aside. After all last summer's clean-up, I still have 2 spinning wheels. I did have three..... one an antique that the hauling guy took for junk. Ha
ReplyDeleteKaren : Well let's put it like this. If we go off the grid, I'm ready.
ReplyDeleteAndrea : OMG... I have one of those too. In fact it taught me how to cook, my mother didn't. Now, I my diet has completely changed and I no longer use it, but it survived the move this summer right along with the rest of the books.
ReplyDeleteHow could you ever replace all those notes and recipes.
As in, my son calling for a family key lime pie recipe right after I had tossed my old recipe box. He was so disappointed because no one else had it either.
Thanks for dropping by.
I absolutely do when tied to something as wonderful as a keeper of the words. I have an old dictionary that I wouldn't mind having buried with me...:) Love this post.
ReplyDeleteI love that you've kept your dictionary all these years. The Husband and I have boxes of stuff from years past. Each year I try to get rid of some of mine. Lately, I tell myself it's time to burn 2 boxes full of journals.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I have my ole Webster dictionary my mother gave me when I was in junior high. Of course it's addressed to me in my maiden name and signed by mama...luv it! Would never, ever get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteI have a difficult time parting with the sentimental. It has made this moving process *difficult.* For the record, I wouldn't have let the dictionary go, either.
ReplyDeleteLOL... that is funny that Marilyn wanted to throw it away.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem hanging onto my clothing that should have been tossed years ago. I think it is because we were so poor growing up... but who knows.
Dear Manzanita, the first dictionary that was mine alone was given to me by my Aunt Dorothy when I graduated from high school in May 1954. I still have it and just yesterday I used it!!! It's "The American College Dictionary by Random House." So, yes, I do hold on to those things that are dear to me. I'm glad you do too. Peace.
ReplyDeleteI have a thesaurus that I've had since freshman year in college. And yes, I still use it! None of the new ones feel as good in my hands or are as easy to navigate.
ReplyDeleteTeresa :I love that idea, buried with you. That is how much I love mine too. But I bet yours is in better shape. I know I used it a lot but mine is really beat up.
ReplyDeleteSu-siee : It's a difficult thing to keep on top of it. After I threw away and threw away this summer, I said I wouldn't ever keep things and already I notice my drawers are getting filled with mostly junk.
ReplyDeleteturquoisemoon : Happy to hear that you still have your dictionary from Jr. high too. Well, perhaps yours is in good shape but you saw the picture how mine looks like sometime the dog has chewed on for weeks. And I still can't get rid of it.... beauty is only skin deep. Ha Ha
ReplyDeleteRobin : Did you just make a move, too? I spent all summer moving out of three houses. It was brutal for me. I still have a lot to go through but winter came and that's it for now. I'm not going to fight the snow, too.
ReplyDeleteTerry : Oh me too. Even the clothes that don't fit. If too small I keep thinking I'll be able to wear them again. But I doooon't think so.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny when I think about Marilyn wanting to throw away the dictionary. You saw the picture of it and she thought it was just an old trashed book and it is, definitely but she didn't realize how much I loved that dictionary.
I think being poor when young becomes the ruler by which we judge things when grown up. We never got much and that is really a good thing because when we did get something new we really appreciated it and most likely cherished it more than when you got 20 or 30 presents like kids do now. That dictionary was a Christmas present and I did cherish it because I had wanted one for so long.
Love to you
Dee : It makes me happy to read that others hang onto things for sentimental reasons and I liked that dictionary because I knew my way around it and it felt good to hold .
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote, I tried the 2 expensive dictionaries that my husband gave me but they just weren't the same.
Karen Gown : So happy you have a thesaurus that you are attached it. Now that I think about it, I have one too that is pretty old, but not as old as the dictionary.My thesaurus is in good shape yet. Must mean I should be using it more. Ha
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I hope you didn't place too high a wager. I love my old worn-out dictionaries... as well as a bunch of other old worn-out things other people would have thrown out years ago. (And, no! I'm not talking about my husband. HA!)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a well-thumbed tome. I used to have my dictionary beside me whenever I wrote but now I use an online dictionary and thesaurus. I do have some very old books from when I was a child that I'll never get rid of though.
ReplyDeleteOh Dear, At first I thought, "Oh she wouldn't possibly get rid of him!" Kidding. But I'm glad you have sentimental attachments to things too. It's comforting to know I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteSusan : I forgot to put your name on my reply. I'm looking, trying to figure out how to get the comment page with the reply underneath it. Do you know?
ReplyDeleteRosalind : It looks like something found outside after a tornado hits. I think it took a beating when I was still in Jr high. I was so proud of my dictionary that I carried it everywhere. You must have an interesting library and your childhood books add your sentimental attraction.
ReplyDeleteHi Manzanita .. a real favourite I can see that ... I lost two things early in life .. my school etymological dictionary and an atlas I leant my brother at his boarding school ...
ReplyDeleteI still use my books though - I do use Wiki a lot .. and I love my reference books from those early days of owning my own flat etc ...
Thank goodness it didn't get into the trash!!
Cheers Hilary
Hi-ya. IF I remember right, this is how to change your comments so that a reply option appears under each comment: From your dashboard, go to Settings, and from there, to Posts and comments. Where it says, Comment Location, you're probably showing Pop-Up now. Click on the arrow to show other options, and choose Embedded... and save. That should do the trick. (IF I remember right...)
ReplyDeleteOh, yes I do. Electronics may own the world, but I hang onto my books, the landline phone, and stuff that always works.
ReplyDeleteHi Manzanita. My oh my, your poor old dictionary does look to be in a sorry state, doesn't it?! I can quite understand you not wanting to get rid of it though - it's a real part of your life after all these years. I think I would have loved the new ones that your husband gave you though!
ReplyDeleteI would definately keep it. I'm kind of a psuedo pack-rat, still have clothes from high school. Bought a "vest pocket" dictionary in 1965 and still have it (and use it)today.
ReplyDeleteWell, Mrs. Penwasser likes to hang onto old worn out goods. How else to explain us being married almost 27 years?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of dictionaries (you, not I), I still have the dictionary that Mrs. Penwasser #1's sister gave me for Christmas a couple decades ago. I cherish it, not the memory. It's the only thing I have from that first marriage (which I call the "Unholy Union of Ugly People").
I also have my First Grade primer. Which is kinda a hoot. Funny. There were nothing but white people in it.
Thankfully, society has come a long way.
Hilary,
ReplyDeleteI guess brothers are like that, forget to return things. Mine too. I've always loved mysteries and years ago I collected every book Agatha Christie wrote.... all used and my brother wanted to read them. I haven't seen them since but he enjoyed them and now I would be getting rid of them anyway.
I've always been a bad speller so I constantly use a dictionary. My education was mostly self taught and I'm always looking up words and the spelling.
Having reference books is helpful because there are a lot of things I can't find online.
Susan Swiderski : Than you for the info. I think that's got to be it. I've been there a few times but I don't think I understood the wording. I'll check it out as soon as I finish this. I'll let you know. I love the computer but just wish I had at least the knowledge of it that a 5 year old has.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane : Oh lovely that someone else has the old phone too. I scrounge all over to find the ones without a battery. My intuitive won't have a battery phone or a cell either. He says they are really the worst thing for your brain cels;
ReplyDeletethisisme : The new dictionaries were beautiful but there was something missing. Perhaps there was a piece of my childhood that I coudnt't let go.
ReplyDeleteAnthony : Join the pack-rat group. I think a lot of older people are. The younger generation is used to a disposable world.
ReplyDelete1965 sounds pretty recent to me. I laugh when I hear people say "Way back in the 80's' That feels recent to me. Ha
Al : 27 years is not worn out.... just getting started. :)
ReplyDeleteWell it's nice to have that dictionary from the other life/wife in case you want to look up some new words to call that time. Good or bad, either.
While I get rid of most stuff, I still have a lot of treasures that stay with me.
ReplyDeleteDear Manzanita,
ReplyDeleteYour old frayed dictionary is a statement and a memory of your times in junior high and rather like a friend you wish to keep. Just wondering if the dictionary is in proper English as in English, English :) Note my attempt at 'humor'(apologies to my spell check)
Heck, I have a 1923 Canadian Encyclopedia that when it comes to the planets, it only mentions 8. Just like those know it all astronomers claim again these days. Poor Pluto!
Gary
Inger : You must save just the right things because you have some gorgeous Swedish items from your past.
ReplyDeleteKlahanie : It's pretty proper, alright. LOL 3 important things happened in 1930...... Betty Boop was born, I was born, and Pluto was discovered. But since your encyclopedia can't list it, OK because now Pluto has been demoted, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI most certainly do hold on to old worn out things. I still have and use the dictionary my eldest daughter started high school with. Tha back section is filled with interesting information such as:
ReplyDelete"Words, Phrases and Noteworthy sayings";
"Abbreviations and Contractions Commonly Used in Writing and Printing";
"Forms of Addressin Ceremonious Communications with Persons of Title or Official Position"
"Weights and Measures"
"Signs and Symbols used in Writing and Printing"
(these include Mathematical, Astronomical, Medical, Chemical and Commercial signs)
"A Key to Noted Names in Fiction, Mythology etc
(a guide to literary allusions)
The inside back cover has a page on which I've printed the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic alphabets, to help with crossword clues.
I am NEVER letting go of that book!
River,
DeleteYour dictionary is worth it's weight in gold and I bet it still has a cover, unlike my naked one. You are a real scholar to write the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic alphabets. Oh my goodness, does that mean you can write in those languages too? You are right, there are just some books you always keep. I never keep fiction novels. Well, I really rarely read fiction. But I love history and keep all of the history boos.
P.S. my youngest son now has the Encyclopaedia set and gigantic Times Atlas of The World that I bought together as a set 41 years ago before my first baby was born.
ReplyDeleteYou were so lucky to have your own encyclopedias (pre-computers). I remember how much I wanted a set when I was young but it was out of the question. Have your son hang onto them for now the whole world is so dependent on electric power and you would still have that knowledge if you ever go off the grid. If that ever happens, we couldn't read our kindles either
DeleteWe could still read our kindles, but we wouldn't be able to update them with new books. As for the alphabets, I googled them so I could have the answers to crossword clues. I sure as heck can't write in those languages. As for fiction novels, I love them and have a smaller-than-it-used-to-be collection of favourites.
DeleteOh wait, you said no electric power...so we could only read until the battery runs down. Thank goodness for real books then.
DeleteWell, yes, and it happens to be two small, red-covered, Webster Dictionaries. (dictionary - not sure if the plural is spelled right and my dictionary is nowhere in sight). One is really worn (the cover) and some of the Bible-like paper is wrinkled but I never marked in it like people mark-up their Holy Bibles! I seldom use them anymore because I have the same dictionary on my computer in the icon tray with the rest of the icons and I use it at least once every day.
ReplyDeleteHonest Abe, You are lucky to still have covers on your dictionaries. Mine is bare.
ReplyDeleteHave a very pleasant weekend.
My spellcheck has never let me down, it catches all my misspelled words and every thong.
ReplyDeleteRick, I know. They work very well and sometimes I use it. It's just that I'm such an old dog I take a very long time to learn new tricks. :)
DeleteI'm afraid I only use spell check or the Internet for spelling now. I do still have my favorite dictionary though even if I don't really use it.
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