I couldn’t pass up sharing this little tid bit of information. On April 14, 1828: Noah Webster registered the copyright on his American Dictionary of the English Language 185 years ago today. Imagine, just 2,500 copies of the first edition sold, for 20 dollars apiece. Twenty dollars must have been a fortune in 1828. It took him thirty years to compile it. He changed words like the Kings English colour and changed it to color, musik  to music, theatre to theater.  He introduced new “American” words (some based on Native American languages) such as opossum, skunk, and a favorite of yours and mine – Congress. He also wrote his own edition of the Bible. He was also instrumental in creating the first American census.

Noah was a school teacher and he was appalled by his students inability to spell.

I don’t know when Merriam got into the picture, but I couldn’t do without…