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Now, have any of y'all ever looked up this word?
好，你們中有誰查過這個單詞？
You know, in a dictionary? Yeah, that's what I thought.
用字典？是的，我想也就這個樣子。
How about this word? Here, I'll show it to you.
這個單詞呢？看看解釋：
Lexicography: the practice of compiling dictionaries.
Lexicography(字典學):編纂字典的活動。
Notice -- we're very specific -- that word "compile."
注意，這是專用的說法，定義里用“編纂”這個詞。
The dictionary is not carved out of a piece of granite, out of a lump of rock. It's made up of lots of little bits.
字典并不是從一大塊巖石里鑿出的花崗巖，而是由很多的小塊小塊合起來的。
It's little discrete -- that's spelled D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E -- bits. And those bits are words.
分離的，英語里邊的串法是D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E——小塊。我們這里說的小塊就是指單詞了。
Now one of the perks of being a lexicographer --
作為字典編纂者的好處--
besides getting to come to TED -- is that you get to say really fun words, like lexicographical.
除了有機會來 TED演講以外，就是可以說很有趣的單詞，例如，lexicographical,字典編纂學。
Lexicographical has this great pattern: it's called a double dactyl.
這個詞有一種很棒的押韻，“揚抑抑格”。
And just by saying double dactyl, I've sent the geek needle all the way into the red.
只要說到“揚抑抑格”，古怪指數就可以飆升到紅色警戒。
But "lexicographical" is the same pattern as "higgledy-piggledy."
其實，lexicographical與 "higgledy-piggledy"(“雜亂無章”的意思)有一樣的押韻。
Right? It's a fun word to say, and I get to say it a lot.
對吧？這個詞單發音就很好玩，我常常說它。
Now, one of the non-perks of being a lexicographer
同時，作為字典編纂者，一個讓人郁悶的地方
is that people don't usually have a kind of warm, fuzzy, snuggly image of the dictionary.
是字典從來沒有給人留下一個溫暖，舒適的印象。
Right? Nobody hugs their dictionaries.
對吧？沒有人會擁抱他們的字典。
But what people really often think about the dictionary is, they think more like this.
但是，其實人們通常對字典的看法是這樣的。
Just to let you know, I do not have a lexicographical whistle.
告訴你一件事情，我沒有什么纂字哨子，
But people think that my job is to let the good words
盡管大家認為我的工作是讓所謂的好詞
make that difficult left-hand turn into the dictionary, and keep the bad words out.
做一個有難度的左轉拐入字典，而把所謂的壞詞擋于門外。
But the thing is, I don't want to be a traffic cop.
問題是，我不想當交通警察。
