FT248

In FT243:73, reader Rosemary Regan asked about fictitious entries in reference works… Or did she?


The solid printed reference book is the ultimate authority for most of us; while we may not believe everything just because it’s there in black and white, it is the gold standard for reliability. Unfortunately, even the most respectable textbooks contain deliberate untruths.


Sometimes the inaccuracies show a spirit of playfulness. Compiling reference works is a tedious business, and there is the temptation to slip in some humour. This dates back at least to 1775, when Dr Johnson allowed himself a few jokey definitions in his celebrated dictionary:
“Monsieur: a term of reproach for a Frenchman”
And, famously –
“Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words.”


The tradition is carried on by works such as Chambers, whose 2006 dictionary includes entries such as “Mullet: a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round.” Sometimes compilers add entire joke entries, like the ‘steinlaus’ or stone louse, an imaginary rock-eating creature in the German medical dictionary Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch.