Erin McKean: The joy of lexicography

Prevodilac: Maja Milicevic Lektor: Ivana Korom

Now, have any of y'all ever looked up this word?

Da li je iko od vas ikada potražio ovu reč?

You know, in a dictionary? (Laughter) Yeah, that's what I thought.

Mislim, u rečniku? (Smeh) Da, tako sam i pretpostavila.

How about this word?

A ovu reč?

Here, I'll show it to you.

Evo, pokazaću vam je.

Lexicography: the practice of compiling dictionaries.

Leksikografija: delatnost sastavljanja rečnika.

Notice -- we're very specific -- that word "compile."

Obratite pažnju, vrlo smo precizni, kaže "sastavljanje".

The dictionary is not carved out of a piece of granite,

Rečnik nije isklesan od komada granita

out of a lump of rock. It's made up of lots of little bits.

ili stene. Čini ga mnoštvo delića.

It's little discrete --

Sitnih zasebnih -

that's spelled D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E -- bits.

evo i slovo po slovo - Z-A-S-E-B-N-I-H - delića.

And those bits are words.

A ti delići su reči.

Now one of the perks of being a lexicographer --

E sad, jedna od prednosti bavljenja leksikografijom -

besides getting to come to TED -- is that you get to say really fun words,

osim gostovanja na TED-u - jeste to što se koriste zanimljive reči,

like lexicographical.

na primer "leksikografija".

Lexicographical has this great pattern:

"Leksikografija" ima divnu strukturu

it's called a double dactyl. And just by saying double dactyl,

koja se zove dvostruki daktil. I samim tim što sam rekla "dvostruki daktil",

I've sent the geek needle all the way into the red. (Laughter) (Applause)

upalilo se crveno svetlo na radaru za zaluđenike. (Smeh) (Aplauz)

But "lexicographical" is the same pattern as "higgledy-piggledy."

Ali reč "leksikografija" ima istu strukturu kao "tandara-mandara".

Right? It's a fun word to say,

Zar ne? Zabavno je izgovarati,

and I get to say it a lot.

a ja sam često u prilici da je izgovaram.

Now, one of the non-perks of being a lexicographer

Ali, jedna od mana bavljenja leksikografijom

is that people don't usually have a kind of warm, fuzzy, snuggly image of the dictionary.

jeste to što ljudi obično ne razmišljaju o rečnicima kao nečem dragom, nežnom i toplom.

Right? Nobody hugs their dictionaries.

Zar nije tako? Niko ne grli svoj rečnik.

But what people really often think about the dictionary is, they think more like this.

Ono što ljudi zapravo češće misle o rečniku je otprilike ovo.

Just to let you know, I do not have a lexicographical whistle.

Samo da znate, ja nemam nikakvu leksikografsku pištaljku.

But people think that my job is to let the good words

Ali ljudi misle da je moj posao da puštam dobre reči

make that difficult left-hand turn into the dictionary,

da nekako pređu put do rečnika,

and keep the bad words out.

i da sprečavam loše reči da uđu u njega.

But the thing is, I don't want to be a traffic cop.

Ali, ja zapravo ne želim da budem saobraćajac.

For one thing, I just do not do uniforms.

Za početak, ne volim uniforme.

And for another, deciding what words are good

Osim toga, odlučiti koje reči su dobre,

and what words are bad is actually not very easy.

a koje loše, zapravo uopšte nije lako.

And it's not very fun. And when parts of your job are not easy or fun,

A nije ni zabavno. A kada neka strana posla koji radite nije ni laka ni zabavna,

you kind of look for an excuse not to do them.

obično tražite izgovor da se njom ne bavite.

So if I had to think of some kind of occupation

I zato ako bih morala da smislim neko zanimanje

as a metaphor for my work, I would much rather be a fisherman.

koje će biti metafora za moj posao, radije bih bila ribar.

I want to throw my big net into the deep, blue ocean of English

Želim da bacim veliku mrežu u duboki plavi okean engleskog jezika

and see what marvelous creatures I can drag up from the bottom.

i da vidim kakva ću sve divna stvorenja izvući sa dna.

But why do people want me to direct traffic, when I would much rather go fishing?

Ali zašto ljudi očekuju da usmeravam saobraćaj, kad bih se ja radije bavila pecanjem?

Well, I blame the Queen.

Pa, mislim da je za to kriva kraljica.

Why do I blame the Queen?

Zašto krivim kraljicu?

Well, first of all, I blame the Queen because it's funny.

Pa, za početak, krivim kraljicu zato što mi je to zabavno.

But secondly, I blame the Queen because

Ali pored toga, krivim kraljicu zato što

dictionaries have really not changed.

se rečnici zapravo uopšte nisu promenili.

Our idea of what a dictionary is has not changed since her reign.

Naša predstava o tome šta rečnik predstavlja nije se promenila od vremena njene vladavine.

The only thing that Queen Victoria would not be amused by in modern dictionaries

Jedino što kraljicu Viktoriju ne bi zabavljalo u savremenim rečnicima

is our inclusion of the F-word, which has happened

jeste prisustvo reči J*, koja je

in American dictionaries since 1965.

u američkim rečnicima od 1965.

So, there's this guy, right? Victorian era.

Dakle imamo ovog ovde čoveka. Viktorijansko doba.

James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Džejms Mari, prvi urednik Oksfordskog rečnika engleskog jezika.

I do not have that hat. I wish I had that hat.

Ja nemam ovakav šešir. Kamo sreće da ga imam.

So he's really responsible for a lot of

On je zapravo odgovoran za veliki deo toga

what we consider modern in dictionaries today.

šta danas smatramo savremenim u rečnicima.

When a guy who looks like that, in that hat,

A kada čovek koji ovako izgleda, sa ovim šeširom,

is the face of modernity, you have a problem.

predstavlja oličenje savremenosti, tu nešto nije u redu.

And so, James Murray could get a job on any dictionary today.

Džejms Mari bi danas mogao da dobije posao na bilo kom rečniku.

There'd be virtually no learning curve.

Praktično ne bi bilo nikakvog napretka.

And of course, a few of us are saying: okay, computers!

Naravno, neko će tu reći: pa, računari!

Computers! What about computers?

Računari! Šta je s računarima?

The thing about computers is, I love computers.

Ja obožavam računare.

I mean, I'm a huge geek, I love computers.

Hoću da kažem, potpuni sam zaluđenik, obožavam računare.

I would go on a hunger strike before I let them take away Google Book Search from me.

Štrajkovala bih glađu, ali ne bih dopustila da mi oduzmu Guglovu pretragu knjiga.

But computers don't do much else other than

Ali jedino što računari mogu jeste da

speed up the process of compiling dictionaries.

ubrzaju proces sastavljanja rečnika.

They don't change the end result.

Oni ne mogu da promene krajnji proizvod.

Because what a dictionary is,

Jer rečnik je zapravo

is it's Victorian design merged with a little bit of modern propulsion.

viktorijanski koncept na koji je nakalemljen savremeni pogon.

It's steampunk. What we have is an electric velocipede.

Rečnik je stimpank. Električni velosiped.

You know, we have Victorian design with an engine on it. That's all!

Znate već, viktorijanska stvar sa motorom. I to je sve!

The design has not changed.

Sam koncept se nije promenio.

And OK, what about online dictionaries, right?

No, dobro, a šta je sa online rečnicima?

Online dictionaries must be different.

Online rečnici mora da su drugačiji.

This is the Oxford English Dictionary Online, one of the best online dictionaries.

Ovo je online izdanje Oksfordskog rečnika, jedan od najboljih online rečnika.

This is my favorite word, by the way.

Inače, ovo je moja omiljena reč.

Erinaceous: pertaining to the hedgehog family; of the nature of a hedgehog.

Erinaceus: vrsta ježa; koji se tiče prirode ježa.

Very useful word. So, look at that.

Veoma korisna reč. I pogledajte sad.

Online dictionaries right now are paper thrown up on a screen.

Postojeći online rečnici jesu papir prebačen na ekran.

This is flat. Look how many links there are in the actual entry: two!

Prikaz je statičan. Pogledajte koliko linkova ima unutar odrednice: dva!

Right? Those little buttons,

Vidite? Iz ovih malih menija

I had them all expanded except for the date chart.

sam sve prikazala, sve osim grafova.

So there's not very much going on here.

Što znači da ovde nema ničeg posebnog.

There's not a lot of clickiness.

Nema mnogo stvari za kliktanje.

And in fact, online dictionaries replicate

I zapravo, online rečnici nasleđuju

almost all the problems of print, except for searchability.

skoro sve probleme štampane verzije, osim što ih je lakše pretraživati.

And when you improve searchability,

A kada se poboljša pretraživanje,

you actually take away the one advantage of print, which is serendipity.

zapravo se oduzima jedina prednost štampanog izdanja, a to su slučajna otkrića.

Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for,

Slučajna otkrića znače da ste pronašli nešto što niste tražili,

because finding what you are looking for is so damned difficult.

jer je toliko teško da nađete ono što tražite.

So -- (Laughter) (Applause) -- now, when you think about this,

I tako - (Smeh) (Aplauz) - kada malo razmislimo o svemu ovome,

what we have here is a ham butt problem.

zapravo imamo problem okrajka šunke.

Does everyone know the ham butt problem?

Da li znate za problem okrajka šunke?

Woman's making a ham for a big, family dinner.

Žena sprema šunku za veliku porodičnu večeru.

She goes to cut the butt off the ham and throw it away,

Kreće da iseče jedan kraj šunke i da ga baci,

and she looks at this piece of ham and she's like,

onda pogleda taj kraj i pomisli

"This is a perfectly good piece of ham. Why am I throwing this away?"

"Ovom parčetu šunke ništa ne fali. Zašto ga uopšte bacam?"

She thought, "Well, my mom always did this."

Seti se, "Pa, moja mama je uvek tako radila."

So she calls up mom, and she says,

I tako pozove mamu i pita je:

"Mom, why'd you cut the butt off the ham, when you're making a ham?"

"Mama, kad spremaš šunku, zašto sečeš okrajak?"

She says, "I don't know, my mom always did it!"

Majka joj kaže "Ne znam, moja mama je uvek tako radila!"

So they call grandma, and grandma says,

Onda pozovu baku i baka im kaže:

"My pan was too small!" (Laughter)

"Imala sam malu šerpu!" (Smeh)

So, it's not that we have good words and bad words.

Dakle, nemamo mi ovde dobre i loše reči.

We have a pan that's too small!

Imamo malu šerpu!

You know, that ham butt is delicious! There's no reason to throw it away.

Znate, okrajak šunke je vrlo ukusan! Nema razloga da ga bacimo.

The bad words -- see, when people think about a place

Za loše reči - pa, vidite, kada ljudi pomisle na neko mesto

and they don't find a place on the map,

i ne nađu to mesto na karti,

they think, "This map sucks!"

pomisle "Ova karta ništa ne valja!"

When they find a nightspot or a bar, and it's not in the guidebook,

Kada pronađu noćni klub ili bar koji se ne spominje u vodiču,

they're like, "Ooh, this place must be cool! It's not in the guidebook."

pomisle "Oho, ovo mora da je neko sjajno mesto! Nema ga u vodiču."

When they find a word that's not in the dictionary, they think,

A kada pronađu reč koja nije u rečniku, pomisle,

"This must be a bad word." Why? It's more likely to be a bad dictionary.

"Mora da nije dobra reč." Zašto? Verovatnije je da je u pitanju loš rečnik.

Why are you blaming the ham for being too big for the pan?

Zašto krivimo šunku što je veća od šerpe?

So, you can't get a smaller ham.

Uglavnom, ne možemo da uzmemo manju šunku.

The English language is as big as it is.

Engleski jezik je toliki koliki je.

So, if you have a ham butt problem,

A to znači, ako imate problem kao sa okrajkom šunke,

and you're thinking about the ham butt problem,

i razmislite o problemu sa okrajkom šunke,

the conclusion that it leads you to is inexorable and counterintuitive:

zaključak do koga ćete doći je neumitan i protivan logici:

paper is the enemy of words.

papir je neprijatelj reči.

How can this be? I mean, I love books. I really love books.

Kako je to moguće? Pa ja obožavam knjige. Stvarno ih obožavam.

Some of my best friends are books.

Neki od mojih najboljih prijatelja su knjige.

But the book is not the best shape for the dictionary.

Ali knjiga nije najbolji mogući oblik za rečnik.

Now they're going to think "Oh, boy.

Sad ćete pomisliti "Au.

People are going to take away my beautiful, paper dictionaries?"

Hoće li mi to neko oduzeti moje divne štampane rečnike?"

No. There will still be paper dictionaries.

Neće. Štampani rečnici će nastaviti da postoje.

When we had cars -- when cars became the dominant mode of transportation,

Kada su se pojavili automobili - kada su automobili postali glavni način prevoza,

we didn't round up all the horses and shoot them.

nismo sakupili sve konje i poubijali ih.

You know, there're still going to be paper dictionaries,

I dalje će postojati štampani rečnici,

but it's not going to be the dominant dictionary.

ali to neće biti glavna vrsta rečnika.

The book-shaped dictionary is not going to be the only shape

Rečnik u obliku knjige neće više biti jedini mogući oblik

dictionaries come in. And it's not going to be

za rečnike. I neće biti

the prototype for the shapes dictionaries come in.

prototip za druge oblike rečnika.

So, think about it this way: if you've got an artificial constraint,

Posmatrajte to ovako: imate nekakvo veštačko ograničenje,

artificial constraints lead to

a veštačka ograničenja dovode do

arbitrary distinctions and a skewed worldview.

proizvoljnih podela i iskrivljene slike sveta.

What if biologists could only study animals

Šta bi bilo kad bi biolozi mogli da proučavaju samo životinje

that made people go, "Aww." Right?

na čiju pojavu se ljudi svi razneže. Shvatate?

What if we made aesthetic judgments about animals,

Šta bi bilo da donosimo estetske sudove o životinjama

and only the ones we thought were cute were the ones that we could study?

i da dozvoljavamo da se proučavaju samo one koje su nam slatke?

We'd know a whole lot about charismatic megafauna,

Znali bismo vrlo mnogo o harizmatičnom delu megafaune,

and not very much about much else.

ali vrlo malo o bilo čemu drugom.

And I think this is a problem.

A za mene to predstavlja problem.

I think we should study all the words,

Ja mislim da treba da proučavamo sve reči,

because when you think about words, you can make beautiful expressions

jer ako malo razmislimo o rečima, prelepi izrazi mogu se skovati

from very humble parts.

od vrlo skromnih sastavnih delova.

Lexicography is really more about material science.

Leksikografija zapravo više liči na nauku o materijalima.

We are studying the tolerances of the materials

Proučavamo toleranciju materijala

that you use to build the structure of your expression:

koji se koriste u izgradnji strukture izraza,

your speeches and your writing. And then, often people say to me,

onoga što ljudi govore i onoga što pišu. I onda me često pitaju,

"Well, OK, how do I know that this word is real?"

"Pa dobro, kako da znam da li je ovo prava, postojeća reč?"

They think, "OK, if we think words are the tools

Misle, "Ako kažemo da su reči alatke

that we use to build the expressions of our thoughts,

koje koristimo da gradimo izraze naših misli,

how can you say that screwdrivers are better than hammers?

kako da znamo da su šrafcigeri bolji od čekića?

How can you say that a sledgehammer is better than a ball-peen hammer?"

Kako da znamo da je jedan čekić bolji od drugog?"

They're just the right tools for the job.

Jednostavno su prava alatka za posao koji obavljamo.

And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?"

I tako me ljudi pitaju "Kako da znam da li je neka reč prava reč?"

You know, anybody who's read a children's book

Znate, svako ko je pročitao bar jednu dečju knjigu

knows that love makes things real.

zna da stvari postaju stvarne zahvaljujući ljubavi.

If you love a word, use it. That makes it real.

Ako volite neku reč, koristite je. Tako ona postaje prava reč.

Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction.

To da li jeste ili nije u rečniku je veštačka podela.

It doesn't make a word any more real than any other way.

Zbog toga reč ne postoji ništa više nego neka druga.

If you love a word, it becomes real.

Ako volite neku reč, ona postaje prava reč.

So if we're not worrying about directing traffic,

Dakle, ako prestanemo da brinemo o usmeravanju saobraćaja,

if we've transcended paper, if we are worrying less

ako prevaziđemo papir, i ako manje brinemo

about control and more about description,

o kontroli a više o opisivanju,

then we can think of the English language

onda možemo da vidimo engleski jezik

as being this beautiful mobile.

kao ovu prelepu pokretnu skulpturu.

And any time one of those little parts of the mobile changes,

I kad god se neki od ovih delića na skulpturi promeni,

is touched, any time you touch a word,

kada ga nešto dodirne, svaki put kada dodirnete reč,

you use it in a new context, you give it a new connotation,

kada je upotrebite u novom kontekstu, date joj novu konotaciju,

you verb it, you make the mobile move.

izgovorite je, pokrećete skulpturu.

You didn't break it. It's just in a new position,

Niste je pokvarili. Samo je u novom položaju,

and that new position can be just as beautiful.

a taj novi položaj može biti podjednako lep.

Now, if you're no longer a traffic cop --

E sad, ako više niste saobraćajac -

the problem with being a traffic cop is

a problem ako ste saobraćajac je

there can only be so many traffic cops in any one intersection,

i to da na jednoj raskrsnici može da stoji samo manji broj saobraćajaca,

or the cars get confused. Right?

inače će doći do haosa. Je l' tako?

But if your goal is no longer to direct the traffic,

Ali ako vam cilj više nije da usmeravate saobraćaj,

but maybe to count the cars that go by, then more eyeballs are better.

već recimo da brojite automobile koji prolaze, onda što više očiju, to bolje.

You can ask for help!

Možete da tražite pomoć!

If you ask for help, you get more done. And we really need help.

Ako tražite pomoć, možete da uradite više stvari. A nama stvarno treba pomoć.

Library of Congress: 17 million books,

Kongresna biblioteka. 17 miliona knjiga,

of which half are in English.

polovina je na engleskom.

If only one out of every 10 of those books

Kada bi samo u svakoj desetoj knjizi

had a word that's not in the dictionary in it,

postojala reč koja nije u rečniku,

that would be equivalent to more than two unabridged dictionaries.

to bi zajedno činilo više od dva integralna izdanja rečnika.

And I find an un-dictionaried word --

A ja nalazim nerečničke reči -

a word like "un-dictionaried," for example --

na primer reči poput "nerečnički" -

in almost every book I read. What about newspapers?

u skoro svakoj knjizi koju pročitam. A u novinama?

Newspaper archive goes back to 1759,

Arhiva novina doseže do 1759. godine,

58.1 million newspaper pages. If only one in 100

58,1 miliona novinskih stranica. Kada bi samo na svakoj stotoj

of those pages had an un-dictionaried word on it,

stranici postojala neka nerečnička reč,

it would be an entire other OED.

to bi bio čitav jedan novi Oksfordski rečnik.

That's 500,000 more words. So that's a lot.

To je još 500.000 reči. A to je mnogo.

And I'm not even talking about magazines. I'm not talking about blogs --

A nisam ni spomenula časopise. Nisam spomenula blogove -

and I find more new words on BoingBoing in a given week

a u toku jedne nedelje pronađem više novih reči na BoingBoing-u

than I do Newsweek or Time.

nego u Njuzviku ili Tajmu.

There's a lot going on there.

Mnogo štošta se tu dešava.

And I'm not even talking about polysemy,

A čak ne govorim ni o polisemiji,

which is the greedy habit some words have of taking

toj gramzivoj navici nekih reči da prisvajaju

more than one meaning for themselves.

više od jednog značenja.

So if you think of the word "set," a set can be a badger's burrow,

Tako ako uzmete reč "set", to može da bude jazbina jazavca,

a set can be one of the pleats in an Elizabethan ruff,

može biti nabor u elizabetanskoj kragni,

and there's one numbered definition in the OED.

i eto vam jedna numerisana definicija u Oksfordskom rečniku.

The OED has 33 different numbered definitions for set.

Oksfordski rečnik ima 33 različite numerisane definicije za reč "set".

Tiny, little word, 33 numbered definitions.

Jedna mala, sićušna reč, 33 numerisane definicije.

One of them is just labeled "miscellaneous technical senses."

Jedna od njih označena je prosto kao "različita tehnička značenja".

Do you know what that says to me?

Znate kako ja to tumačim?

That says to me, it was Friday afternoon and somebody wanted to go down the pub. (Laughter)

Tumačim da je bio petak popodne i nekome se žurilo u pab. (Smeh)

That's a lexicographical cop out,

To je tipično leskikografsko izvlačenje,

to say, "miscellaneous technical senses."

kad kažemo "različita tehnička značenja".

So, we have all these words, and we really need help!

Dakle, imamo sve te reči i stvarno nam je potrebna pomoć!

And the thing is, we could ask for help --

I poenta je da bismo mogli da je tražimo -

asking for help's not that hard.

nije tako teško potražiti pomoć.

I mean, lexicography is not rocket science.

Leksikografija nije konstrukcija aviona.

See, I just gave you a lot of words and a lot of numbers,

Pogledajte, navela sam mnoštvo reči i brojeva,

and this is more of a visual explanation.

a ovo sad je više vizuelno objašnjenje.

If we think of the dictionary as being the map of the English language,

Ako zamislimo da je rečnik mapa engleskog jezika,

these bright spots are what we know about,

svetle tačke su ono što znamo,

and the dark spots are where we are in the dark.

a tamna mesta su ono o čemu ne znamo ništa.

If that was the map of all the words in American English, we don't know very much.

Ako je ovo mapa svih reči američkog engleskog, i ne znamo baš mnogo.

And we don't even know the shape of the language.

Ne znamo ni kakvog je oblika taj jezik.

If this was the dictionary -- if this was the map of American English --

Kad bi ovo bio rečnik - kad bi to bila mapa američkog engleskog -

look, we have a kind of lumpy idea of Florida,

pogledajte, imamo ovde nekakvu kvrgu koja liči na Folirdu,

but there's no California!

ali nema Kalifornije!

We're missing California from American English.

U američkom engleskom nedostaje Kalifornija.

We just don't know enough, and we don't even know that we're missing California.

Prosto ne znamo dovoljno, ne znamo čak ni da nedostaje Kalifornija.

We don't even see that there's a gap on the map.

Ne vidimo ni da imamo rupu na mapi.

So again, lexicography is not rocket science.

Dakle, još jednom, leksikografija nije konstrukcija aviona.

But even if it were, rocket science is being done

Ali sve i da jeste, konstrukcijom aviona danas se bave

by dedicated amateurs these days. You know?

i posvećeni amateri. Jeste li znali za to?

It can't be that hard to find some words!

A ne može biti toliko teško pronalaziti reči!

So, enough scientists in other disciplines

Naučnici u drugim disciplinama

are really asking people to help, and they're doing a good job of it.

zaista pitaju druge ljude za pomoć, i odlično to koriste.

For instance, there's eBird, where amateur birdwatchers

Na primer, imate eBird, gde posmatrači ptica, amateri,

can upload information about their bird sightings.

mogu da postave informacije o pticama koje su videli.

And then, ornithologists can go

I onda ornitolozi mogu da odu

and help track populations, migrations, etc.

i pomognu u praćenju populacija, migracija i slično.

And there's this guy, Mike Oates. Mike Oates lives in the U.K.

Onda imate Majka Outsa. Majk Outs živi u Velikoj Britaniji.

He's a director of an electroplating company.

Direktor je firme za galvanizaciju.

He's found more than 140 comets.

On je otkrio preko 140 kometa.

He's found so many comets, they named a comet after him.

Otkrio je toliko kometa da su jednu nazvali po njemu.

It's kind of out past Mars. It's a hike.

Nalazi se tamo negde iza Marsa. Podaleko.

I don't think he's getting his picture taken there anytime soon.

Mislim da se neće slikati tamo u bližoj budućnosti.

But he found 140 comets without a telescope.

Ali čovek je otkrio 140 kometa bez teleskopa.

He downloaded data from the NASA SOHO satellite,

Preuzimao je podatke sa Nasinog satelita SOHO

and that's how he found them.

i tako ih je otkrio.

If we can find comets without a telescope,

Ako smo u stanju da otkrivamo komete bez teleskopa,

shouldn't we be able to find words?

zar ne bi trebalo da smo u stanju i da pronalazimo reči?

Now, y'all know where I'm going with this.

I sad svi znate gde ovo vodi.

Because I'm going to the Internet, which is where everybody goes.

Jer vodi na Internet, mesto gde sve vodi.

And the Internet is great for collecting words,

A Internet je sjajan za sakupljanje reči,

because the Internet's full of collectors.

jer je pun sakupljača.

And this is a little-known technological fact about the Internet,

Ovo je slabo poznata tehnološka činjenica o Internetu,

but the Internet is actually made up of words and enthusiasm.

ali Internet je zapravo sačinjen od reči i entuzijazma.

And words and enthusiasm actually happen to be

A reči i entuzijazam ujedno su

the recipe for lexicography. Isn't that great?

i recept za leksikografiju. Zar to nije sjajno?

So there are a lot of really good word-collecting sites out there right now,

I sada postoji mnogo stvarno dobrih sajtova za sakupljanje reči,

but the problem with some of them is that they're not scientific enough.

ali problem sa nekima je u tome što nemaju dovoljno naučnu osnovu.

They show the word, but they don't show any context.

Daju vam reč, ali ne daju kontekst.

Where did it come from? Who said it?

Odakle je ta reč došla? Ko je izgovorio?

What newspaper was it in? What book?

U kojim se novinama pojavila? U kojoj knjizi?

Because a word is like an archaeological artifact.

Jer reč je kao arheološki artefakt.

If you don't know the provenance or the source of the artifact,

Ako ne znate izvor ili poreklo artefakta,

it's not science, it's a pretty thing to look at.

onda to nije nauka, nego lep ukras.

So a word without its source is like a cut flower.

Tako je i reč bez izvora kao odsečen cvet.

You know, it's pretty to look at for a while, but then it dies.

Znate već, neko vreme vam je lep, ali onda uvene.

It dies too fast.

Prebrzo uvene.

So, this whole time I've been saying,

I sve ovo vreme govorim

"The dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary."

"Rečnik, rečnik, rečnik, rečnik"

Not "a dictionary," or "dictionaries." And that's because,

Ne "jedan rečnik" ili "rečnici". To je zbog toga što,

well, people use the dictionary to stand for the whole language.

ljudima rečnik predstavlja čitav jezik.

They use it synecdochically.

Koriste ga sinegdohalno.

And one of the problems of knowing a word like "synecdochically"

A jedan od problema kada znate reč poput "sinegdohalno"

is that you really want an excuse to say "synecdochically."

jeste to da zapravo samo tražite izgovor da kažete "sinegdohalno".

This whole talk has just been an excuse to get me to the point

Čitavo ovo izlaganje bilo je samo izgovor da dođem do mesta

where I could say "synecdochically" to all of you.

na kome mogu da vam kažem "sinegdohalno".

So I'm really sorry. But when you use a part of something --

Stvarno vam se izvinjavam zbog toga. Ali kada koristite deo nečega -

like the dictionary is a part of the language,

kao što je rečnik deo jezika,

or a flag stands for the United States, it's a symbol of the country --

ili zastava predstavlja Sjedinjene Države, simbol je za zemlju -

then you're using it synecdochically.

onda to nešto koristite sinegdohalno.

But the thing is, we could make the dictionary the whole language.

Ali poenta je u tome da bismo mogli da pretvorimo rečnik u ceo jezik.

If we get a bigger pan, then we can put all the words in.

Ako nabavimo veću šerpu, moći ćemo u nju da stavimo sve reči.

We can put in all the meanings.

Moći ćemo u nju da smestimo svaki smisao reči.

Doesn't everyone want more meaning in their lives?

A zar ne želimo svi da vidimo više smisla u životu?

And we can make the dictionary not just be a symbol of the language --

I možemo od rečnika da napravimo ne samo simbol jezika,

we can make it be the whole language.

nego ceo jezik.

You see, what I'm really hoping for is that my son,

Vidite, ono što se zaista nadam jeste da će moj sin,

who turns seven this month -- I want him to barely remember

koji ovog meseca puni sedam godina - želim da se on jedva seća

that this is the form factor that dictionaries used to come in.

da je ovo oblik koji su rečnici nekada imali.

This is what dictionaries used to look like.

Ovako su rečnici nekada izgledali.

I want him to think of this kind of dictionary as an eight-track tape.

Želim da vidi takav rečnik kao traku stereo 8.

It's a format that died because it wasn't useful enough.

Kao format koji je morao da odumre zato što nije bio dovoljno koristan.

It wasn't really what people needed.

Nije bio ono što je ljudima zaista bilo potrebno.

And the thing is, if we can put in all the words,

Poenta je da ako možemo da uključimo sve reči,

no longer have that artificial distinction between good and bad,

i da više nemamo veštačku podelu na dobre i loše reči,

we can really describe the language like scientists.

onda stvarno možemo da opišemo jezik kao naučnici.

We can leave the aesthetic judgments to the writers and the speakers.

Možemo da prepustimo estetski sud piscima i govornicima.

If we can do that, then I can spend all my time fishing,

Ako uspemo to da uradimo, onda ću moći vreme da provodim pecajući

and I don't have to be a traffic cop anymore.

i neću više morati da budem saobraćajac.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Najlepše vam hvala na pažnji.