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So if you think of the word "set," a set can be a badger's burrow,
當你想到一個詞“set”—“set”可以指獾的穴，
a set can be one of the pleats in an Elizabethan ruff, and there's one numbered definition in the OED.
也可以指伊利沙白時代衣領上的褶--在OED里就有好幾個定義，
The OED has 33 different numbered definitions for set. Tiny, little word, 33 numbered definitions.
在OED里“set”共33種定義。小小的一個單詞，33種定義。
One of them is just labeled "miscellaneous technical senses." Do you know what that says to me?
其中一個只是說“不同的技術時態(tài)。”你知道這對我來說意味著什么？
That says to me, it was Friday afternoon and somebody wanted to go down the pub. (Laughter)
那就是說周五下午某人想去酒吧。
That's a lexicographical cop out, to say, "miscellaneous technical senses."
用字典編纂學的術語來說，就是“不同的技術時態(tài)。”
So, we have all these words, and we really need help!
有那么多詞，我們真的很需要幫助！
And the thing is, we could ask for help -- asking for help's not that hard.
事實上，我們可以尋求幫助--要求幫助并不困難。
I mean, lexicography is not rocket science.
字典編纂不是開發(fā)火箭。
See, I just gave you a lot of words and a lot of numbers, and this is more of a visual explanation.
看，我剛給了你很多詞和很多數(shù)字，這里是個更形象的解釋。
If we think of the dictionary as being the map of the English language,
我們可以把字典當作代表英語的地圖，
these bright spots are what we know about, and the dark spots are where we are in the dark.
這些亮點是我們已知的，黑點是未知的。
If that was the map of all the words in American English, we don't know very much.
如果這個地圖指美國英語的所有單詞，我們還有很多不知道。
And we don't even know the shape of the language.
我們連整個語言的輪廓也不知道。
If this was the dictionary -- if this was the map of American English --
如果這個是字典，美國英語地圖——
look, we have a kind of lumpy idea of Florida, but there's no California!
看，我們有個大致的佛羅里達州了，可是還沒有加州！
We're missing California from American English.
連加州都還沒有，
We just don't know enough, and we don't even know that we're missing California.
我們知道的確實很不夠，我們甚至連缺了加州這個事情也不知道。
We don't even see that there's a gap on the map. So again, lexicography is not rocket science.
我們連地圖里有個空白也不知道。再強調，字典編纂不是開發(fā)火箭。
But even if it were, rocket science is being done by dedicated amateurs these days. You know?
即使是火箭開發(fā)科學，當今也有熱誠的業(yè)余愛好者參與其中了。是吧？
It can't be that hard to find some words!
發(fā)現(xiàn)詞語不可能有那么難！
