*DARE Staff, Volume III * Preface * Acknowledgments * The Anatomy of a DARE Entry * List of Abbreviations *Dictionary of American Regional English, I--O
Frederic G. Cassidy was Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Joan Houston Hall is Distinguished Scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the DARE staff in 1975, became Associate Editor in 1979, and was named Chief Editor in 2000.
To learn how [the word jerk] is used in the American dialect--and
where it began--we are now blessed with Volume Three (I to O) of
the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), coming out this
month, edited by America's lexicographical giant, Fred Cassidy, now
89, with Joan Houston Hall.
*New York Times Magazine*
This long-awaited, definitive and fascinating Dictionary of
American Regional English [DARE]...is all we had hoped for and
more. It includes the regional and folk language, past and present,
of the old and the young, men and women, white and black, the rural
and the urban, from all walks of life...Although DARE will be one
of the most scholarly, comprehensive and detailed dictionaries ever
completed...it will also be one of the easiest and most enjoyable
to use or browse in...This is an exciting, lasting work of useful
scholarship accomplished with excellence, a work that scholars and
laypeople alike will study, use and enjoy for generations.
*New York Times Book Review*
It already seems clear that...the dictionary will rank as one of
the glories of contemporary American scholarship...it is endlessly
rewarding to dip into, and if you look up a particular word or
phrase you are in constant danger of being seduced to something
else...It is a work to consult, and a work to savor--a work to last
a lifetime.
*New York Times*
Proof that tourism, television and technological change haven't
rounded off all the gaudy and gracious edges of the way we
talk.
*New York Times Magazine*
Volume III of the Dictionary of American Regional English--or DARE,
to its language-loving devotees coast to coast--is the latest
installment ("I" to "O") of the most comprehensive effort ever
mounted to capture the words the American people actually use in
theireveryday life, words that don't always get written down
It's a
browser's delight and a front-row seat at the Great American
Variety Show.
*Chicago Tribune*
[T]he regional qualities of American English continue to make our
tongue colorful, gracious, even elegant. This dictionary examines
those words and phrases--not the everyday ones we all use, like
hand or smile or part-time
DARE is especially revealing; it shows,
almost instantly, that in this country language is not fodder for
regulation; language simply is, period. We all say much the same
things--in sometimes very different ways...This survey of spoken
English is, as its publisher proudly proclaims, unprecedented. It's
also scholarly, endlessly fascinating and enlightening. You can
hear America talking from its pages
*Philadelphia Inquirer*
Editor Frederic G. Cassidy and associate editior Joan Houston Hall
have an appetite for American dialect suited to their painstaking
work on what may be the great reference work of our age...But while
the OED's English is like Latin--a linguistic fossil bed--DARE
documents a living, mutable language...DARE offers delights on
every page, the taxonomy of 10,000 fanciful American
constructions,turns of phrase and words that don't mean what you
think.
*Isthmus*
[A] green pasture of language, perfect for browsing by a lover of
words.
*Chicago Sun-Times*
The dictionary [is] very easy to read and to interpret. The senses
were clearly delineated, and the quotations aptly chosen...One very
wise practice was the use of a double dagger "to indicate a word or
sense of questionable genuineness"...An editor who had chosen not
to include such items might have deprived future dialectologists of
potentially important data should they happen to come across these
words later...DARE has indeed become an indispensable resource for
the study of American English, "a routine starting point for
current and future dialect studies" (Wolfram, American Speech,
1985).
*American Speech*
The most comprehensive collection of America's regional lexis...The
third volume is, as its predecessors before it, a rich mine of
information, impeccably edited and printed and a joy to read. We
are looking forward to the volumes still to come, hoping they will
be published soon.
*Indogermanische Forschungen*
Devotees of verbal arcana have never been given a richer browsing
ground. But while they are discovering that a blind tiger is a
place to buy and drink moonshine, or that there are 176 names for
dust balls under the bed, they are also bound to be awed by the
dictionary's staggering scholarship.
*Time*
A flat-out excellent continuation of the first volume...DARE must
be seen as having an influence on the field of lexicography when
editors of other dictionaries look to it for guidance. This type of
influence previously has been seen rarely, outside of the pervasive
influence exercised by the OED...The makers of DARE, from Cassidy
to copy editor, can rest assured that their work will long be used
and held valuable by the American contingent of humanity.
*American Speech*
Flowerpots and sinkers and cabbage patches fill the fascinating
pages of the Dictionary of American Regional English(DARE), whose
second volume, D to H, comes out this summer...It is not everyone's
idea of fun to cozy up with a dictionary, of course. But this is
not just any old reference book. It's a linguistic guide to
America, with a little bit of Americana waiting to be discovered on
every one of its 1,192 pages.
*Miami Herald*
In DARE, it's the speakers who get their say. A trip through its
pages is part Trivial Pursuit®, part scholarship, and part treasure
hunt.
*Los Angeles Times*
From dabble (to wash or rinse quickly) right through to hyuh (i.e.,
here) the Dictionary of American Regional English...catalogs the
crazy ways we talked before being mass-commed into a nation of
mush-mouths.
*Newsweek*
Because these volumes are the most complete lexical records we have
of the American experience, much of the history and contemporary
condition of American society can be found in their pages...We are
very fortunate to have DARE; it is not a dictionary; it is a
national treasure.
*Language in Society*
Devotees of verbal arcana have never been given a richer browsing
ground. But while they are discovering that a blind tiger is a
place to buy and drink moonshine, or that there are 176 names for
dust balls under the bed, they are also bound to be awed by the
dictionary's staggering scholarship.
*Time*
The content of the DARE volumes is both enlightening and
entertaining...Anyone with an interest in American history and life
in general will enjoy browsing through this volume.
*Language and Linguistics*
To learn how [the word jerk] is used in the American
dialect--and where it began--we are now blessed with Volume Three
(I to O) of the Dictionary of American Regional
English (DARE), coming out this month, edited by America's
lexicographical giant, Fred Cassidy, now 89, with Joan Houston
Hall. -- William Safire * New York Times Magazine *
This long-awaited, definitive and fascinating Dictionary of
American Regional English [DARE]...is all we had hoped for and
more. It includes the regional and folk language, past and present,
of the old and the young, men and women, white and black, the rural
and the urban, from all walks of life...Although DARE will
be one of the most scholarly, comprehensive and detailed
dictionaries ever completed...it will also be one of the easiest
and most enjoyable to use or browse in...This is an exciting,
lasting work of useful scholarship accomplished with excellence, a
work that scholars and laypeople alike will study, use and enjoy
for generations. -- Stuart B. Flexner * New York Times Book Review
*
It already seems clear that...the dictionary will rank as one of
the glories of contemporary American scholarship...it is endlessly
rewarding to dip into, and if you look up a particular word or
phrase you are in constant danger of being seduced to something
else...It is a work to consult, and a work to savor--a work to last
a lifetime. -- John Gross * New York Times *
Proof that tourism, television and technological change haven't
rounded off all the gaudy and gracious edges of the way we talk. --
William Safire * New York Times Magazine *
Volume III of the Dictionary of American Regional
English--or DARE, to its language-loving devotees coast
to coast--is the latest installment ("I" to "O") of the most
comprehensive effort ever mounted to capture the words the American
people actually use in theireveryday life, words that don't always
get written down It's a browser's delight and a front-row seat at
the Great American Variety Show. -- Rick Horowitz * Chicago Tribune
*
[T]he regional qualities of American English continue to make our
tongue colorful, gracious, even elegant. This dictionary examines
those words and phrases--not the everyday ones we all use, like
hand or smile or part-time DARE is
especially revealing; it shows, almost instantly, that in this
country language is not fodder for regulation; language simply
is, period. We all say much the same things--in sometimes
very different ways...This survey of spoken English is, as its
publisher proudly proclaims, unprecedented. It's also scholarly,
endlessly fascinating and enlightening. You can hear America
talking from its pages -- Howard S. Shapiro * Philadelphia Inquirer
*
Editor Frederic G. Cassidy and associate editior Joan Houston Hall
have an appetite for American dialect suited to their painstaking
work on what may be the great reference work of our age...But while
the OED's English is like Latin--a linguistic fossil
bed--DARE documents a living, mutable language...DARE
offers delights on every page, the taxonomy of 10,000 fanciful
American constructions,turns of phrase and words that don't mean
what you think. -- David Medaris * Isthmus *
[A] green pasture of language, perfect for browsing by a lover of
words. -- James Kilpatrick * Chicago Sun-Times *
The dictionary [is] very easy to read and to interpret. The senses
were clearly delineated, and the quotations aptly chosen...One very
wise practice was the use of a double dagger "to indicate a word or
sense of questionable genuineness"...An editor who had chosen not
to include such items might have deprived future dialectologists of
potentially important data should they happen to come across these
words later...DARE has indeed become an indispensable
resource for the study of American English, "a routine starting
point for current and future dialect studies" (Wolfram, American
Speech, 1985). -- Betty S. Phillips * American Speech *
The most comprehensive collection of America's regional lexis...The
third volume is, as its predecessors before it, a rich mine of
information, impeccably edited and printed and a joy to read. We
are looking forward to the volumes still to come, hoping they will
be published soon. * Indogermanische Forschungen *
Devotees of verbal arcana have never been given a richer browsing
ground. But while they are discovering that a blind tiger is a
place to buy and drink moonshine, or that there are 176 names for
dust balls under the bed, they are also bound to be awed by the
dictionary's staggering scholarship. -- Ezra Bowen * Time *
A flat-out excellent continuation of the first volume...DARE
must be seen as having an influence on the field of lexicography
when editors of other dictionaries look to it for guidance. This
type of influence previously has been seen rarely, outside of the
pervasive influence exercised by the OED...The makers of
DARE, from Cassidy to copy editor, can rest assured that
their work will long be used and held valuable by the American
contingent of humanity. -- Thomas L. Clark * American Speech *
Flowerpots and sinkers and cabbage patches fill the fascinating
pages of the Dictionary of American Regional English(DARE),
whose second volume, D to H, comes out this summer...It is not
everyone's idea of fun to cozy up with a dictionary, of course. But
this is not just any old reference book. It's a linguistic guide to
America, with a little bit of Americana waiting to be discovered on
every one of its 1,192 pages. -- Rick Horowitz * Miami Herald *
In DARE, it's the speakers who get their say. A trip through
its pages is part Trivial Pursuit (R), part scholarship, and part
treasure hunt. -- Bob Secter * Los Angeles Times *
From dabble (to wash or rinse quickly) right through to
hyuh (i.e., here) the Dictionary of American
Regional English...catalogs the crazy ways we talked before
being mass-commed into a nation of mush-mouths. * Newsweek *
Because these volumes are the most complete lexical records we have
of the American experience, much of the history and contemporary
condition of American society can be found in their pages...We are
very fortunate to have DARE; it is not a dictionary; it is a
national treasure. -- Edward Callary * Language in Society *
Devotees of verbal arcana have never been given a richer browsing
ground. But while they are discovering that a blind tiger is
a place to buy and drink moonshine, or that there are 176 names for
dust balls under the bed, they are also bound to be awed by the
dictionary's staggering scholarship. -- Ezra Bowen * Time *
The content of the DARE volumes is both enlightening and
entertaining...Anyone with an interest in American history and life
in general will enjoy browsing through this volume. -- Kay O.
Cornelius * Language and Linguistics *
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