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

就是那種拿起字典來查?（笑聲）沒錯，我也是這麼想的。

How about this word?

那這個字呢?

Here, I'll show it to you.

現在我來告訴各位它們的字義

Lexicography: the practice of compiling dictionaries.

字典編纂：匯編字典的過程

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

注意--我們用精確的字義，使用這個字「匯編」。

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

字典並不是刻在一片岩石上或是大石頭上，

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

字典是由許多小部份累積而成的。

It's little discrete --

這概念是離散的--

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

ㄌㄧˊ ㄙㄢˋ 的小片段。

And those bits are words.

而這些小片段就是字。

Now one of the perks of being a lexicographer --

作為一個辭典編纂者令人振奮的一點是--

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

除了能夠參加TED之外--就是你可以說出一些有趣的單字，

like lexicographical.

譬如「辭典編纂的」。

Lexicographical has this great pattern:

「辭典編纂的」這個字有很特別的模式--

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

叫做雙重抑楊格（一重音節後兩輕音節）。就在我說「雙重抑揚格」的同時，

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

我已經把怪人指數推到極限了。

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

但「辭典編纂的」這個字跟「亂七八糟」這個辭是同樣形式的。

Right? It's a fun word to say,

對吧?這真是一個說起來很有趣的字，

and I get to say it a lot.

且我常有機會說這個字。

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

身為辭典編纂者的缺點之一是

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

人們普遍對字典的沒有那種親切、舒適、溫暖的感覺。

Right? Nobody hugs their dictionaries.

是吧?誰會去擁抱字典呢？

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

但是一說到字典人們往往會這樣想。

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

跟你們說，我並沒有辭典編纂者口哨。

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

但是一般人認為我的工作就是讓那些好的字彙

make that difficult left-hand turn into the dictionary,

能夠順利編進辭典中，

and keep the bad words out.

然後剔除那些糟糕的字。

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

然而事實是，我並不想當個交通警察。

For one thing, I just do not do uniforms.

其中一個原因是我不喜歡制服。

And for another, deciding what words are good

另一個原因是決定哪些字是優良的

and what words are bad is actually not very easy.

哪些字是劣質的很不容易，

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

而且不有趣。而且當你工作的某部份既不簡單也不有趣時，

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

你似乎會去找個理由不要去處理它。

So if I had to think of some kind of occupation

所以如果我必須要找到一種職業，

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

可以用來比喻我這份工作，我想漁夫應該更恰當。

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

我想要把我的大網撒進這個充斥英語詞彙的蔚藍大海，

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

然後看看我能從海底捕到什麼了不起的生物。

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

但是爲什麼當人們期待我去指揮交通，而我卻更喜歡去捕魚呢?

Well, I blame the Queen.

我想這要怪「皇后」。

Why do I blame the Queen?

為什麼我怪「皇后」呢？

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

第一，因為怪罪皇后很搞笑。

But secondly, I blame the Queen because

但更重要的，我怪皇后因為

dictionaries have really not changed.

辭典本身其實沒有改變。

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

自皇后的統治下,辭典這個概念就沒改變過。

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

維多利亞皇后在現代人的辭典中唯一不會感到有趣的，

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

就是那些F開頭的髒話了，這些髒字

in American dictionaries since 1965.

自1965年出現在美國的辭典中。

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

維多利亞時代有個人對吧？

James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

叫做詹姆士莫瑞，第一位牛津英文辭典的編纂者。

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

我沒有那頂帽子，我希望我有。

So he's really responsible for a lot of

所以說他必須要為

what we consider modern in dictionaries today.

現今辭典中被認為是現代的東西負責。

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

當一個戴著這樣的帽子的人

is the face of modernity, you have a problem.

代表現代化，你就有點問題了。

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

所以,詹姆士莫瑞可以編纂現代的任何一部辭典。

There'd be virtually no learning curve.

看起來是毫無學習曲線可言。

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

當然有一些人會說「電腦」呀！

Computers! What about computers?

電腦! 那電腦呢?

The thing about computers is, I love computers.

關於電腦這部分是這樣的 - 我熱愛電腦。

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

我的意思是，我是電腦狂，我熱愛電腦。

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

如果有人要把Google書籍搜尋功能從我這拿走的話我會絕食罷工。

But computers don't do much else other than

但是電腦

speed up the process of compiling dictionaries.

除了加快字典編纂速度以外別無功能。

They don't change the end result.

電腦不能改變最後的結果。

Because what a dictionary is,

因為辭典本身就是

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

維多利亞時代和一些些現代化概念的融合。

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

如同蒸汽機龐克,我們有的就只是一部電子雛型

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

維多利亞時代的設計然後裡面有部引擎罷了。

The design has not changed.

這個設計還沒有改變過。

And OK, what about online dictionaries, right?

那麼網路字典呢？

Online dictionaries must be different.

網路字典肯定不同了。

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

這是牛津英文線上字典,線上最好的字典之一。

This is my favorite word, by the way.

順道一提，這個是我最喜歡的一個字：

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

刺蝟的:指涉刺猬因子遺傳基因;也就是刺猬因子的本質。

Very useful word. So, look at that.

很好用的字。現在看看。

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

網路字典就像把紙本內容丟到螢幕上。

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

是平面的。看看有多少真的可以點擊的連結，兩個！

Right? Those little buttons,

對吧？這些小按鈕--

I had them all expanded except for the date chart.

除了日期表以外我已經全部展開了。

So there's not very much going on here.

所以事實上並沒有很多。

There's not a lot of clickiness.

沒有很多可點擊的東西。

And in fact, online dictionaries replicate

事實上，線上字典

almost all the problems of print, except for searchability.

除了容易搜尋外，跟紙本字典有完全相同的問題。

And when you improve searchability,

當你增加搜尋效率時，

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

你事實上拿走另一個好處：意外收穫。

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

意外收穫是指你找到一些你原本不是要找的東西，

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

因為要找到你原本想找的東西實在太難了。

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

所以（笑聲）現在，當你想想這個，

what we have here is a ham butt problem.

我們有個「火腿末端」問題。

Does everyone know the ham butt problem?

大家知道「火腿末端」問題嗎？

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

一個女人為了一個家庭聚餐準備火腿。

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

她把火腿末端切掉然後丟掉。

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

然後她看著那塊火腿想：

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

這是一塊完全沒有問題的火腿，為什麼要丟掉呢？

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

她想：喔，媽媽總是把它丟掉。

So she calls up mom, and she says,

所以她打電話給媽媽，問道：

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

「媽，為什麼要把火腿末端切掉呢？」

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

媽媽說：「我不知道，我媽媽一直都這麼做！」

So they call grandma, and grandma says,

所以她們打給奶奶，奶奶說：

"My pan was too small!" (Laughter)

「我的鍋子太小了！」（笑聲）

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

所以不是我們有優質或劣質的字--

We have a pan that's too small!

而是因爲我們的鍋子太小了！

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

你知道的，火腿末端很好吃的！實在沒有必要把它丟掉。

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

劣質的字--你想，當有人想要找一個地方

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

而那個地方沒有在地圖上，

they think, "This map sucks!"

他們會想「這地圖爛透了！」

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

當他們找到一個不在旅遊手冊上的夜總會，

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

他們會想「喔，這地方一定很酷！它沒有在旅遊書上。」

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

當他們在字典上找不到一個字時，他們會想

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

「這一定是個不好的字。」為什麼？那更有可能是一本爛字典。

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

為什麼要怪火腿太大呢？

So, you can't get a smaller ham.

所以你不可能有塊小火腿。

The English language is as big as it is.

英文這個語言就是這麼大。

So, if you have a ham butt problem,

所以如果你有個火腿末端問題，

and you're thinking about the ham butt problem,

且你正在想這個問題，

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

結論是無情且反直覺的：

paper is the enemy of words.

紙是文字的敵人。

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

這怎麼可能？我的意思是，我愛書。我很愛書。

Some of my best friends are books.

我一些最要好的朋友都是書。

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

但書不是字典最好的形式。

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

現在他們會想「喔不，

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

不要把我美麗的紙本字典拿走？」

No. There will still be paper dictionaries.

不是的。紙本字典還是會存在。

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

當我們有車子的時候，當車子成為主要的交通工具時，

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

我們沒有把所有的馬抓起來殺掉。

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

你懂的，還是會有紙本字典，

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

只是不會是主要的形式。

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

紙本字典不會是字典的唯一形式。

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

而且字典不會有一個

the prototype for the shapes dictionaries come in.

很制式的形式。

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

這樣想吧！就像是你有一個人為限制，

artificial constraints lead to

這個限制造成

arbitrary distinctions and a skewed worldview.

無理曲解和扭曲的世界觀。

What if biologists could only study animals

如果生物學家只能研究

that made people go, "Aww." Right?

讓人們看了會覺得可愛的動物？

What if we made aesthetic judgments about animals,

如果我們對動物的審美標準是

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

只能研究那些讓我們覺得可愛的？

We'd know a whole lot about charismatic megafauna,

我們會瞭解很多關於有魅力的巨型動物的事情，

and not very much about much else.

但其他的幾乎一無所知。

And I think this is a problem.

且我覺得這是個問題。

I think we should study all the words,

我覺得我們應該學習所有的字，

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

因為當你想文字時，你可以用簡單的字

from very humble parts.

拼湊成美妙的語句。

Lexicography is really more about material science.

辭典編纂事實上是比較材料科學的。

We are studying the tolerances of the materials

我們正在研究人們

that you use to build the structure of your expression:

用來組織文章的材料的極限，

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

包括口頭和紙筆。人們常常這麼跟我說：

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

「好，我怎麼知道這個字是不是真的？」

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

他們想：「好，如果我們把文字當作

that we use to build the expressions of our thoughts,

我們組織語句的工具，

how can you say that screwdrivers are better than hammers?

那我們怎麼知道螺絲起子會比榔頭好呢？」

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

你又怎麼會知道大錘子比小槌子好呢？

They're just the right tools for the job.

那是因工作所需而定的。

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

所以有人問我：「我怎麼知道一個字是不是真的？」

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

事實上，任何一個看過童話故事書的人

knows that love makes things real.

都知道愛會讓事情成真。

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

如果你很喜歡一個單字，多用它，這樣就會讓它變成一個真的單字了。

Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction.

被放在字典裡面只是人為的區別罷了。

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

不會讓一個字更真實。

If you love a word, it becomes real.

如果你愛一個字，這就讓它變成真的。

So if we're not worrying about directing traffic,

所以當我們不是在煩惱如何指揮交通時，