The Vocabula Review welcomes letters to the editor. Please include your name, email address, and professional affiliation. Send your letters to editor@vocabula.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.

Chapter 8: On Zoos and Refuges

• You don't mark your books in any way (how sad). I as a committee of one mark, underline, question grammar, check the esoteric words. I do this for personal reasons but ultimately, because I paid for the book and as with any other personal property I can do what I want.

You should see my dictionaries (24 at last count). My former teachers would put me in detension for life.

P.S. The Dictionary of Disagreeable English was a pure treat. I have not marked the treasure in any way, in respect for the editor.

Ed McFadden
ededdiemcfadden@aol.com

The Dimwit's Dictionary

• I agree with the premise of your article and applaud the efforts of it and The Vocabula Review. I have one small point to make. Plucking examples from novels is a bit unfair. Writers are, we hope, trying to reflect the voice of the character so they may remain true to their character and also help the reader distinguish between characters. Were all characters English majors this would prove difficult. Dimwitticisms are tiring but sometimes in the very vein you suggest they do us a service in separating characters both in fiction and in life.

TD Davidson
janthierichen@earthlink.net

RHF replies: I agree that it would be unfair for me to use quotations from a novel's characters — which is why all the examples are from the author or narrator of the novel; none are from a speaking character.

The 2006 Drive for Funds

• Onward and upward.

Joseph Epstein
j-epstein@northwestern.edu

• To have built Vocabula is a remarkable accomplishment. It is an excellent and informative journal. I wish there were more like it — and I wish this contribution were larger.

David Palmer
dpalmer@maritime.edu

• I want you to stay in business.

Joan Altieri
jjoan@optonline.net

• Keep up the great work!

Emily Ezust
mindel@recmusic.org

RHF replies: I am pleased by the number of people who have generously donated to The Vocabula Review. Thank you all very much. If you haven't yet donated to Vocabula, any gift, large or small, is certainly welcome — and needed.

See anything wrong on this page?

Want to read more? See the Vocabula essay archive.

Contact The Vocabula Review.