Samuel Butler once likened definitions to a kind of scratching. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A Kind of Scratching”
The English writer Samuel Butler once wrote,
Definitions are a kind of scratching and generally leave a sore place more sore than it was before.
Have you ever heard that one?
No.
It made me think of you as a lexicographer, right?
Because I’m always scratching.
No.
It’s true. One of the things you teach novice lexicographers is there’s no such thing as perfect.
The best you can hope for is good enough. And then you move on to the next definition.
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