Henry Hitchings

Henry Hitchings (born in 1974) is a British author, reviewer and critic. He is specialized in narrative non-fiction, with a particular emphasis on language and cultural history. His first two books were Dr Johnson's Dictionary (2005) and The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English (2008). Quotes Early experience conditions adult life; childhood is the precinct in which we learn the rituals of maturity. Henry Hitchings, Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Book that Defined the World, first edition 2005, 2006 paperback edition, page 11 (ISBN 0719566320). The eighteenth century was seized by a rage for order, manifest in a range of new phenomena: the price tag, standardised weights and measures, the proliferation of signposts on public highways, the increased use of account books and calendars. Henry Hitchings, Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Book that Defined the World, first edition 2005, 2006 paperback edition, page 46 (ISBN 0719566320). Etymology is perennially fascinating because it revives the forgotten poetry of the everyday. Henry Hitchings, Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Book that Defined the World, first edition 2005, 2006 paperback edition, page 88 (ISBN 0719566320). Languages, we know, do not stand still. New words are borrowed or invented. Others become obsolete. Morphology alters. So does pronunciation. Words are tools we use to communicate; they bend to our needs. Many change their meanings. Some acquire prestige, and others are degraded. Henry Hitchings, Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Book that Defined the World, first edition 2005, 2006 paperback edition, page 232 (ISBN 0719566320). It is doughty, authoritative, wide-ranging; lavish in its citations and self consciously literary; patriotic, pious, and politically charged; sometimes quirky, often elegant, and occasionally obscure; keenly attentive to many of the age's new developments, yet negligent of others; an extension and refinement of existing lexicographic tradition, but also a starting point for new ones; and the culmination of an extraordinary, strenuous labour which both degraded and ennobled its author. Quote about Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language. Henry Hitchings, Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Book that Defined the World, first edition 2005, 2006 paperback edition, page 238-239 (ISBN 0719566320). See also Language Samuel Johnson Category:1974 births Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Living people