Between the years 1904
and 1937, Frank H. Vizetelly wrote The Lexicographer's
Easy Chair, a question-and-answer column in the
popular Funk and Wagnalls’ weekly, The Literary
Digest. Dr. Vizetelly authored an impressive 1,146
columns over a period of 33 years. The columns appeared
regularly, the years with the highest activity being
1923 (47 columns) and 1924 (46 columns). The year when
the column appeared most sporadically was 1932 (15 columns).
The last column was printed on July 3rd, 1937, about
a year and a half before the death of the lexicographer
(December, 1938).
It is interesting to
note that the correspondents who sent their questions
to Dr. Vizetelly were writing not only from the U.S.A.
but also from Canada, the Bahamas, Japan, Cuba, Ecuador,
etc. The questions sent in by the correspondents varied
from questions regarding definitions of lexical items,
usage and prescriptivism, to dilemmas referring to physics,
chemistry, and mechanics.
Many of the entries
are particularly interesting from a sociolinguistic
point of view as they trace some of the differences
between British and American English with regards to
usage (21 May 1904, 15
June 1907), pronunciation (9
April 1904) or orthography (7
April 1906).
Some entries point to
vernacular uses (14 May 1904)
or make dialectological remarks (28
May 1904).
Other answers are entirely
prescriptive (9 July 1904
, 1 October 1904, 18
February 1905, 20 May 1905,).
There are entries that
provide phonological observations (11
March 1905), interesting socio-historical notes
(16 September 1905), or
even notes on the “predatory nature” of
English (9 June 1906) –
most probably one of the linguistic reasons that facilitated
the road to the popularity that English enjoys today.
The impressive variety
of this material wil
fascinate both the avid reader whishing to discover
more about views on language at the beginning of the
20th century and
the language specialist wanting
to research historical, sociolinguistic and prescriptive
aspects related to language.
The Lexicographer’s
Easy Chair was an ideal forum for the enthusiastic
Dr. Vizetelly who thus had the opportunity to explain
clearly and succinctly to the general public the complications
of grammar, of usage, and of word derivations. One of
the most interesting aspects about The Lexicographer’s
Easy Chair today lies in the fact that it reveals
the awareness of the public regarding language usage.
Judging from the wide range of questions, we can see
a growing public interest towards the social and business
advantages of correct English. This column is a veritable
display of Dr. Vizetelly’s inexhaustible industry
and curiosity in tracing word origins, his enthusiasm
for the vitality of American English, and his belief
that "the people make the language".
The author wishes to
thank her colleague Shelley Beal for sharing
the results of her previous bibliographical research
about The Lexicographer's Easy Chair columns.
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