‘On Language’ 11/2: A sizable book on short words
Dictionary author really did research to the letter
‘On Language‘
Chicago Tribune
November 2, 2005
By Nathan Bierma
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Four-letter words are not in short supply, as you know when you stub your toe.
But one-letter words? What are there—two or three of them?
Try 1,000, says Craig Conley, author of “One-Letter Words: A Dictionary” (HarperCollins, 272 pages, $16.95).
Since Merriam-Webster defines “word” as “a speech sound ... that symbolizes and communicates a meaning,” individual letters do indeed qualify. “So even though there are only twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, my research shows that they stand for 1,000 distinct units of meaning,” Conley writes.
Conley, who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and identifies himself at his Web site as “a curator, benefactor, philosopher, author, music producer, and documentarian,” shows that “X” alone has more than 70 meanings (including a mark on a treasure map; an incorrect answer; a symbol for multiplication; a rating for an adult movie; an axis on a graph; a chromosome; a kiss in a letter; and even a virus called “x-disease.”)
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