HISTORY OF AMERICAN LEXICOGRAPHY.
American Lexicography
Tricky questions
Brain teasers
Lecture 11
100

Who is considered the father of American lexicography?

Noah Webster

100

In which century was the English language brought to North America by English settlers?

17th century 

100

What gets wetter the more it dries?

Towel

100

How many months have 28 days?

All of them

100

This type of dictionary focuses on word pronunciation.

Phonetic

200

In what year was The American Dictionary of the English Language first published?

1828

200

Approximately what was the population of the United States by the end of the 18th century?

About 4 million 

200

What has many teeth but cannot bite?

Comb

200

What has to be broken before you can use it?

Egg

200

This approach describes language as it is actually used.

Descriptive

300

What was the title of the first American dictionary published by Samuel Johnson Jr. in 1798?

A School Dictionary 

300

Which American lexicographer tried to simplify spelling and pronunciation in the USA?

Noah Webster 

300

What can fill a room but takes up no space?

Light 

300

If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become?

Wet

300

This famous dictionary is the largest project in English lexicography.

Oxford

400

Which two printers obtained the rights to Webster’s dictionary and began publishing it as Merriam-Webster?

George and Charles Merriam

400

Which lexicographer became Noah Webster’s main rival during the “war of the dictionaries”?

Joseph Emerson Worcester

400

What belongs to you but other people use it more than you do?

Name

400

Which word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?

Incorrectly 

400

This linguist first clearly defined lexicography as a science.

Shcherba

500

What is the name of the famous revised edition of Webster’s dictionary that caused much debate among linguists?

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language

500

Which major American dictionary was first completed in 1891?

Century Dictionary 

500

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

Letter m

500

What can you hold without ever touching it?

Breath 

500

This type of dictionary focuses on words like names of places and people.

Onomastic

M
e
n
u