Poetry

“Discuss how this kind of definition differs from the kind of definition you might find in a dictionary? Think particularly about the type of information provided and the tone.”

All over the world people post their feelings, thoughts, opinions, secrets, videos, photos, clips and private information on public blogs in the internet, like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. It's a widespread phenomenon and it becomes even more popular . In the article "On Language: Blog" by William Safire, published on the 28th of July 2002 in "The New York Times", he writes about this phenomenon and gives an extended definition of blogs. After reading this article the question arises in which way this kind of definition differs from the kind of definition in common dictionaries. In regarding the type of information provided in the text and the tone of the author, it becomes clear that there are differences between a definition in a dictionary and the extended definition in this column. The extended definition of blogs in this article is very entertaining and it's written in a subjective way with a critical tone, whereas definitions in a dictionary are written in an objective way, without any judgment or entertainment.

A definition of a word or term in a dictionary is always supported by examples which are easy to understand for the reader and which have no other purpose than explaining the term. But in the column, the author uses a lot of entertaining examples and refers to other columns and authors. In a critical tone, he refers to a column in The Wall Street Journal, by Peggy Noonan, whom he calls "the incurable optimist", in which she wrote 'about all ''the lights that didn't fail'' America -- from cops and firemen to peach-growing farmers and cancer-curing scientists, from local churches to TV comedians to blogging.' This shows a difference between a definition in a dictionary and the extended definition of William Safire. Definitions in dictionaries are never entertaining or...