A Library of Words

The onslaught of AI could ruin writing, but it doesn't have to. I've been lazy and used AI to help me edit or generate content. It's easy to feel validated and supported by Claude when it tells you you're onto something and have a unique voice. It's easy to use the words it provides. It's also just a lot of regurgitated slop sometimes. So, reading this newsletter from Austin Kleon (approximately 9 months after he published it) was timely, in a way.

I was enthralled by the thesaurus when I was younger. I loved discovering new words to use in my writing. I read and wrote a lot – as a [mostly] only child I had a lot of time to myself – and English teachers loved me.

Then the business world got ahold of me, and efficiency was the goal, not exploratory language or thought. Just get it done faster, cheaper, and better. Of course that burned me out.

Why does any of this matter? Because language is interesting. Creative. Revealing. And a thesaurus brings new meaning, terminology, and opportunity. Roget's Thesaurus, specifically, is much more than that, I discovered in Austin's post.

"This is the best way to understand Roget’s Thesaurus: it’s not just a book of words, it’s like a library of words."

If you know me at all, you know I love libraries as workspaces, places for discovery, and spaces for peace, quiet, and reflection. Austin further describes the thesaurus as like a library in that it's topical, rather than purely alphabetical.

"The Thesaurus is supposed to work in the opposite direction: you start with an idea, and then you find the words to express it. To put it another way: a dictionary turns words into ideas and and thesaurus turns ideas into words."

I had no idea that modern thesauruses ("thesauri" is a better term, eh?) went against Roget's original two-column design, which makes so much more sense!

"“By carrying the eye from the one to the other,” Roget wrote, “the inquirer may often discover forms of expression, of which he may avail himself advantageously.”

So, now I'm on the hunt for a two-column, topically-organized edition, but somewhat modern. So far, I've found Bartlett's – I'll let you know if it's any good.

With words grouped according to concepts rather than alphabetically, "Bartlett's Roget's Thesaurus" utilizes the most modern language-classification system, preserving Roget's original method, but substituting new subject categories that reflect contemporary thinking.

I think this as a desktop reference will only improve my authentic, non-AI writing.

What about you? What do you think?

☮️❤️