European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 20 the stars and stripes wednesday May 11, 1977 the Rogers gallery v v a thesaurus of thesauri not Vul Wui ton Al a Wilma Library bulletin by Israel Shenker new York times n the harsh soil of contemporary language blooms the verb Ferous thesaurus giving color to i bought fragrance to expression Shade to mean ing and poetic License to copywriters. The latest of the species. The Doubleday Roget t thesaurus in dictionary form hymns itself As completely  a panegyric recalling the effusions of last year s Webster s Colleg Iole thesaurus. Thai Book published by Merriam Webster. Called itself the first totally new thesaurus in Over 120  As though its editor. Marie Weir Kay. Had not acknowledged in the introduction that her staff freely consulted existent  none of this should induce the publisher of Roget t International thesaurus to Stop describing it As most com plete nor should it prevent the original Roget Tali Sauna of English words and phrases from continuing to seek its own margin of distinction As the Only the saurus that gives parts of speech in both text and  Small wonder that the original Roger j lists the senses of Competition As imitation opposition Contention Sale  the Market is immense. With upwards of 50 thesauri in print Only the most discriminating publicist hesitates before extolling the company s thesaurus As first of its kind or most blessed of its Breed. In the 30 years since its first edition pocket books has sold More than 12 million copies of its thesauri in 20 years Signet has sold almost nine million. It was Peter Mark Roget who created the thesaurus arrangement and gave the Spexet his name Koget. Bom in London eased into lexicography by Stu dying Medicine writing on science and inventing a slide Rule and pocket chessboard after retirement As Secre tary of the Royal society he amplified an old word classification system he had earlier devised and in 1852 it was published As a thesaurus. Roget described his device As the opposite of a diction Ary. With a dictionary one knows the word and seeks its meaning with a thesaurus one knows the meaning and seeks the word. As a contemporary thesaurus editor put it when you have a dictionary you look up a word you want when you have a thesaurus you look up a word you Don t  inspired by notions of scientific order and philosophic comprehensiveness Roget imposed a six fold division on vocabulary abstract relations space matter Intel Lect. Volition and affections and listed words in 1.000 subdivisions. Much was arbitrary and repetitive. I have always preferred to subject myself to the imputation of redundancy be said rather than incur the reproach of insufficiency eventually by addition of an Index. It became unnecessary for readers to master the six fold Way to pay h any heed at All. Roget died in 1869. His son edited succeeding editions then his grandson took Over and eventually the family sold its rights to Longmans publisher of the original Edi Tion. Longmans still publishes the direct descendant of the original in London and St. Martin s press puts it Outin the u.s., americanized revised and modernized and distinguished As the  collateral descendant this one not original but International is published Thomas y. Crowell and the original International bickering Between Longmans and Crowell Over publication rights has Given Way to Una bridged transatlantic Amity and forbearance. Both companies watch helplessly As others crowd the Market advertising latter Day entries with verve and audacity and arranging their works not Only As Roget did but also alphabetically. Laird s Promp Lory was an abecedarian synonym named for its compiler Charlton Laird. He took Promp Lory from the latin prompt Rutm storehouse and pro claimed for a new kind of Book a new kind of name professor Laird now emeritus at the University of Nevada went on to edit Webster s new world thesaurus one of the Many word books profiting from the fact that Webster s belongs to anyone who wants it be he Laird or commoner. Roget is also available to All and someday the world will surely see a Webster s Roget or at Leasta boo Efi  Merriam Webster s Webster s col Egialeo them a boast that it stands above the rest and often synonym lists that contain Only exact  it does not list peace Doubleday does to say Noth ing of the original and International allegedly because it could find no exact synonyms. There is no pogrom or ghetto in webster1 list Doubleday has ghetto but no  the original and the International have both. Sidney Landau editor of the Doubleday. Several years ago published an analysis of lexicographic treat ment of the commonest term for sexual Intercourse Buthis thesaurus cedes the territory to competitors. Web Ster s collegiate Theta Una gives figurative senses but shuns the literal. The original and International omit the word entirely. Webster s collegiate thesaurus is god less though i lists goddamn godless godlike godly god s acre and godsend asked to explain the dearth of  said that she Felt the subject was too Touchy for  has 13 listings under  the original and the International Are crowded with gods greek roman Norse hindu egyptian aboriginal and then some. Devil gets us due in Webster s collegiate the saurus which includes Cootie old Gooseberry and old  Dai meday treads warily restricting itself to More familiar appellations such As Prince of darkness and  the original has a Rich cargo including of gentleman and Angel of the bottomless pit and the International welcomes old Harry and old  under headgear the original bears Many hats Halfa column of Small print includes pug Garee tar Boosh Calash Marion Wideawake and  the International offers a haberdasher s Deleca tinn. Including Ruman scraper Sola  has Doubleday blown its lid there is no listing for hat and the word does not even Grace the entries Tor  s collegiate tie Sauna enters the fray hat less and headgear less and there is not even a listing for Toupee Hairpiece or  except As rebuke. All this delighted Patick a. Barrett the head of the reference department at Crowells publisher of the International when be studied Webster collegiate thesaurus. He pointed out that the collegiate Webster t. Which has entries for pig pit pudding and ship though none for boat ignored pig As animal Box As Container pit As Hole or nine or Stone of fruit pudding As dessert and ship As any sort of seaworthy noun. Doubleday recognizes pig As Swine Piglet hog sow Shoal and boat it accepts Box As Container it admits pit As Bole mine and Stone of fruit but it finishes of without  Crowell is preparing to publish the intern Ationo fourth edition. According to the ode it is preparing this thesaurus will not be new Merriam Webster s word or completely new Doubleday s. It will be newest of  will also be largest and most useful but Inthis held that rarely goes without saying. Its funny Wheil a difference a few Yean will make in your attitude toward children. There was a time when i took a piece of cardboard from my husband s shirts ran a string through it and Hung it around my son s neck. It read please do not  he was like a disposer in keds. Going up and Down the Street with his Mouth open. He made garbage trucks an endangered species in our neighbourhood. What i would t give to have anyone feed him today. Cookies candies ice Cream. Anything to take the Edge off his appetite and ruin his meals. And remember talk to me i could t wait until the kid began to by Ermo Bombeck at wits end talk. I d sit in front of him and be so anxious to have anything come out of his Mouth. I was interpreting the bubbles. Through adolescence and the teen age years i was always pleading talk to me. I m your  you know when he began to talk when he moved to la an the daytime rates were 48 cents for the first minute and 33 cents for each addition Al minute plus tax. We spent tt.53 Las week just to hear him relate How his White sweater shrunk in the soak Cycle. I could bile my Tongue when i think Back on it but there actually was a period in my life when i told my daughter get oat of those Good clothes before you ruin them and get into something Grubby to  what 1 would t give today to see if she still has  s painful to remember but there was a period of years when i lived by the slogan you can drive a child to water. But you can t make him  1 wish had a Nickel for every time i personally turned on the Shower filled the tub measured out the shampoo and physically threatened to do harm to their bodies i they did not Avail themselves of soap and  was before the herbal connection. Today bathing among teenagers is a Reli Gion. The hot water tank is a shrine and fat hair is the  the greatest discrepancy you note is the attitude of grandparents. When the children Are babies they stand in line to sit with them. This tapers off at about 18months when it is discovered they have openings in every part of their body that needs attention. I heard a grandmother say the other Day i would t supervise my teenage grandchildren for anything in the world who am i kidding the National guard would t sit with  guess the moral of the Story is enjoy it. Before you know what you re  Lei he kid eur prows inc