PASSIONATE RATIONS

I am deeply suspicious that thesauri have been dumbing themselves down since my childhood.

On countless occasions since high school I have attempted to look up synonyms and been sorely disappointed by the selection given in my contemporary thesaurus.

Currently I have on my desk Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus copyrighted in 1988 (and presented to me only a couple of years ago).  I also have frequent recourse to www.thesaurus.com and other electronic word finders.  None of these have impressed me.

Indeed, my early synonym-atic disappointments led me to outright theft.  During one college vacation I pilfered from my parents’ home the 39th printed edition of Roget’s New Pocket Thesaurus in Dictionary Form (date: 1972).  Though the “new” in the title was no longer applicable even then, I have yet to find a better reference.  It has seen a multitude of moves and desktops.  A paperback, and less than an inch thick, my copy is dog-eared with yellowing pages and a makeshift paper cover that I fashioned for it when its other cover fell off after a bout of frantic page flipping.  Each turn of page emits that particular brand of dust that creates the haze and aroma found in libraries.  Still, you cannot judge a book by its cover.  My Roget’s far surpasses my hard-backed, personally embossed, two-inch thick Webster’s in substance if not appearance.

Take, for instance, the word “food,” which I happened to be looking up to provide myself with additional tags to apply to this very web site (hence the connection, dear reader).

Compare, if you will, Webster’s, which gave the following meager meal:

food n 1 things that are edible [conserve a nation’s supply of food]
syn bread, ║chow, comestibles, ║eats, edibles, feed, food-stuff, grub, meat, ║muckamuck, nurture, provender, provisions, scoff, ║tuck, viands, victuals, vivres
     2 material which feeds and supports the mind or spirit <food for thought>
syn aliment, nourishment, nutriment, pabulum, pap, sustenance

with dear old Roget’s, which presented a sumptuous feast of the following:

FOOD—N. food, nourishment, nutriment, foodstuff, sustenance, pabulum, keep, nurture, aliment, subsistence; provender, corn, feed, fodder; provisions, ration, board; forage, pasture, pasturage; fare, cheer; diet, dietary, regimen.
     eatables, victuals, viands, comestibles, edibles, grub (slang), eats (colloq.), flesh, roast, meat, dainties, delicacies; ambrosia, manna.
     biscuit, cracker, pretzel, rusk; hardtack, sea biscuit.
     eating, consumption, deglutition, mastication, rumination.
     table, cuisine, bill of fare, menu, table d’hôte (F.), à la carte (F.).
     meal, repast, feed (colloq.), spread (colloq.); mess; course, dish, plate; refreshment, refection, collation, picnic, feast, banquet, junket; potluck.
     mouthful, morsel, bite, sop, snack, tidbit.
    restaurant, café, chophouse, eating house, cafeteria, Automat, one-arm joint (slang); bistro (F.), cabaret, coffeepot, coffee shop, diner, grill, inn, lunch wagon, night club, rathskeller, rotisserie, tavern; drive-in (colloq.).
     dining room, dining hall, grill, lunchroom, mess hall, refectory, commons, canteen.
     gourmet, epicure, epicurean, gastronomer, gourmand, bon vivant (F.).

     V. feed, nourish, sustain, foster, nurture, strengthen; graze.
     eat, fare, devour, swallow, consume, take, fall to, dine, banquet, feast; gormandize, gluttonize, bolt, dispatch, gulp; crunch, chew, masticate; peck (colloq.), nibble, gnaw, live on, batten (or feast) upon; bite, browse, graze, crop, champ, munch, ruminate.

     Adj. eatable, edible, esculent, comestible, dietetic; nourishing, nutrient, nutritive, nutritious, alimentary; succulent.
     Omnivorous, carnivorous, flesh-eating, cannibal, predaceous; herbivorous, granivorous.
See also ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR, AMUSEMENT, BREAD, COOKERY, DRINK, DRUNKENNESS, GLUTTONY, HUNGER, SOCIALITY.  Antonyms—See EXCRETION, FASTING.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!  Whew, I’m full!

Webster didn’t even include “rations” in its list, a faux pas of the highest order on this web site.

Thesaurus publishers, please sit up and take note.  Do not reduce my world to tasteless scraps.  I admit a certain dated quaintness to terms such as “one-arm joint,” but what if I’m writing about my grandfather and trying to remember the term he used? 

Give me more, not less, and I (and my readers) will be sated.