Cassandra Reed’s Reviews > The Dictionary of Lost Words > Status Update

Bill returned to the bar and I
took out a slip. Mabel had only ever used fuck in the negative.
‘You might need more than one, said Tilda. 'I can't think of many words more versatile.'

This made me laugh and reflect on a clip that described the many ways Aussies use the word ‘fuck’.
Even more so when Esme finds out that it has more slips than most in the scriptorium.

But at the same time- to preserve every word ever in the history of the English language would have be an impossible, never ending task. There needed to be criteria that must be met to sift through and ensure an end result. It is sad to think that aspects of culture and history would be lost though.

Not all words are equal.
What a summary of the book so far - a commentary of and of the place of women and other lower class/minorities at the time. Attitudes as to the worthiness of people and their language in being represented and preserved in the development of the dictionary.

Invisible women’s work:

I clean, I help with the cooking, I set the fires. Everything I do gets eaten or dirtied or burned - at the end of a day there's no proof l've been here at all' …
'Me needlework will always be here, I see this and I feel ... well, I don't know the word. Like I'll always be here.'
'Permanent,' I said. 'And the rest
of the time?'
‘I feel like a dandelion just before the wind blows’.