Ok, can you tell I'm a librarian? I'm celebrating Dictionary Day. Well, not actually celebrating (although I guess I could go pick up a cake after work... hmmm...) but rather just pointing it out on my blog. Nobody else here at the library has made mention of it, and really there's not that much to be found easily online on the topic. Here's a couple mentions:

• OUPblog: "Dictionary Day is Coming…", an informative blog entry from last year about the day and related details, from the Oxford University Press blog.


• Holiday Insights: "Dictionary Day", a brief description of the details, and lack thereof, regarding this holiday.


• Education World: "Happy Birthday, Noah Webster!", some more information about the man and the dictionary behind the day.


• And of course, the thing that reminded me of this special day, meeblog: "dictionary day", the blog entry for the day from one of the staff at meebo, the free online IM tool.

So, hat's off to Mr. Webster, and happy birthday, sir! It reminds me of historical novels and biographies I've read about people sitting down to write dictionaries or encyclopedias or broad histories of whatever... I would think, "How could they even consider taking on such a task without computer technology... being able to store large numbers of information bits in such a way as to easily update details, and manipulate the whole." Think about the amount of paper used, the incredible need for complete organization to keep track of it all, and the intense focus the author must have to keep from going completely bonkers! LOL

Well, congrats Noah. 27 years of work to create something that so many of us use but take totally for granted, except for the large staff it probably takes to create regular up to date editions.

So, what special crazy holidays do you celebrate, or really mean if you can remember and if you have the time?