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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Who was William Minor? |
A former army officer living in England who had a long history of mental illness. He murdered an innocent man he suspected of intefering with him while he slept. |
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What were the McNaghten rules? |
Named after the man who had assassinated the secretary of Robert Peel and acquitted on account of being so insane he couldn't tell right from wrong. This rule is still occasionally applied today. |
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Why is the OED different from other dictionaries? |
It relies on quotations from published sources. Each quotation must illustrate the sense of the word. This allowed the dictionary to be more precise. It also showed when the word came into use. |
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What are the origins of the word serendipity? |
Sri Lanka was once known as Serendip known as the location of the Garden of Eden. Thus serendipity means a state of bliss. |
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Which battle was the beginning of the end of the American Civil Law? |
The Battle of the Gettysburg. |
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What is believed to have led to the decline of Minor' mental health and his mistrust of Irishmen? |
There were many desertions in the Army, and many of them were Irish. Minor, as a medic, was given the job of branding deserters. It is believed that this aggravated his already fragile sanity and a constant belief that the Irish were seeking revenge. |
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When did the Red Cross begin to represent medics? |
At the end of the American Civil War at the Geneva Convention in the 1860's. |
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What is the definition of sesquipidalian? |
Usually used to describe words that have too many syllables. |
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What was the overall purpose of the OED other than providing a meaning to all words? |
Devised by the Philogical Society, its purpose was to cement English as the global dialect of the world. |
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What were some of the criticisms against Samuel Johnston's dictionary? |
It only contained 118,000 word that he liked, he allowed his personality to enter in some of the definitions, while some were too trite and others too overly complicated. |
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How long did it take to complete the OED? |
70 years. |
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How did volunteers contribute to the OED? |
Volunteers were asked to read certain books. They would write a word on a piece of paper, where it was found, and the full sentence it was found in. |
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How many pages are dedicated to the word 'a'? |
4 |
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How many words did Minor contribute to the OED whilst in an insane asylum |
12,000. And they were often difficult words that many struggled with. |
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What tragic act did William Minor commit whilst in the asylum? |
He cut off his pens as he kept having 'impure thoughts' |
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What are the rules when writing a definition of a word? |
Nouns must be defined by its class and then differentiated into other members. They must not have word more complicated than the original word or less well known. They must describe what a thing is and not what it isn't. All meanings must be stated. All words in the definition must also be in the dictionary. |
