Lexis Vexus

As a young lad pursuing the odd and unusual with respect to language, I happened across a copy of Evan Esar's Esar's Comic Dictionary in the early '70s. I didn't know quite what to make of it, except that it was a hilarious read. For example:

Jacks or Better: What it takes to open bus windows.

It wasn't until quite a bit later that I discovered the writings of Ambrose "Bitter" Bierce and learned that he had essentially pioneered the art of "lexicography as social commentary." Originally a series of columns written for a San Francisco satirical journal called The Wasp and penned anonymously under the title of The Devil's Dictionary, Bierce's sardonic definitions earned him a wide following and led to his adopting a sort of alter ego dressed in top hat and cape. Here's a sample:

Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

Once, adv. Enough.

While today Esar's corpus is out of print, it's widely available through sources such as that linked to above. Yet Esar comes across more as source material for the journeyman ventriloquist in need of a few quips, and lacks the social profundity of Bierce whose dictionary is still going strong. I'm bringing this up because here at salonblogs our own Marcie Crofoot is working in the same vein with her American Heretic's Dictionary, and is coming up with some rather clever entries in her blog, such as these under "F":

FOIST - da winnah
FREQUENT - the weirdo split
FUNDAMENTAL COMPLEX - to finance a nut house

There must be some logic, some underlying explanation for why it is that the act of writing alternative definitions leads the author to a cynical and misongynistic mindset. Some might say the cause is rooted in the mechanics of the exercise, and some might opine that after the first few letters are done the anguish of grinding out the rest permits no other perspective. From experience I'd say the latter. We wish Marcie well and offer her the following for when she gets to "L":

Lexicographer, n. A solitary creature of no significance who possesses more power than should be entrusted to any single individual.