Noodles and Stuff
Often feeling a "noodle of the first rank" myself, I must also confess to suffering an inordinate sense of consternation at being apprised of the revision of the greatest dictionary of the English language.
One of my own most prized possessions is a 5-and-3/4-inch-thick edition of Webster's New International Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Unabridged, published by G & C Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts, in the year of my birth, which my mother-in-law acquired for me, as a gift, for the exorbitant expenditure of $.50 at the DI many years ago. It lies open, occupying a shelf in a bookcase in a darkish corner of my living room, with a small flashlight reposed in the crevice of its opened innards, awaiting the frequent hand, the searching eyes, and the thirsting mind, to which it will yield its abundant fruit.
Ah, mere words. The stuff with which all thought, all sorrow, indeed, all joy is molded and shared. May we ever luxuriate in the copious bounty of a competent and profuse dictionary!