Vocabulary Builders on my Bookshelves

At Liberty Books one night after dinner, I picked up one or two vocabulary drill books. They always look so interesting, but I know I won't do the exercises. Besides, I have two books on my shelves that I just love--and I don't know all the words yet!

The first is English Vocabulary Builder by Johnson O'Connor published by Human Engineering Laboratory, Hoboken, 1939 [c 1937]. O'Connor opens the book with an article he wrote for Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1934, about the relationship between vocabulary and success. But note this from "Acknowledgments":

"The International Business Machines Corporation has enabled the Laboratory to have a set of data-handling machines for the accurate assembly of material. The Atwell Company of Boston has made it possible for the Laboratory to have Ediphone equipment which has contributed to the preparation of this volume."
Of course, we know what IBM is, so this book used the latest technology in 1937 (there were 9 men and 5 women listed as collaborators, which may have been less sexist than IT staffs today), but the Ediphone was used to replace stenographers. It was invented by Thomas Edison to compete with the Dictiphone. The Ediphone had a tube to speak in and the voice vibrations would be recorded on a wax cylinder. A secretary would then type up the recording and then shave the used layer of the cylinder so it could be reused.[scripophily.net]

O'Connor arranged this book by order of familiarity. In 1937, apparently just about everyone, including children, knew the word, "horseshoer," so it was #1. Seventy years later, you probably wouldn't find many children who had ever seen or touched a shoe for a horse, and if they had to draw one might sketch something resembling a Manolo Blahnik. Using the latest data crunchers of the time, the laboratory found 55 words known to all adults, including "fragrant," "quench," and "disordered." From known to all, he moves on to "unknown to 1 per cent," all the way through to "unknown to 99 per cent." The last group has words that 70 years later would not be that rare, like "brochure," "unconscionable," "utter," and "detraction." I was a bit surprised to see that 50% of high-schoolers knew the meaning of "elegiacal" and "asseveration" in 1937, which I might figure out in context, but would not likely use.

With most words, he gives the percentage that knew it or thought it was something else, and what group they were in (college seniors, adults, prep-school, etc.) and words that might be confused, like retinue and retainer or annulled and nugatory.

The second book I have is Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage by Bergen and Cornelia Evans, Random House, 1957. It's not really a vocabulary builder, but a correct usage guide. This book is lots of fun--snarky remarks about English all over the place. This book is old now, and the authors warn the readers that the language is constantly changing--that silly once meant holy, fond meant foolish, beam meant tree and tree meant beam. But I still like it, and am not ready to replace it with something until I learn all the words I should have known in 1957. Don't pay more than $1.00 for it if you see it at a sale.

Cornelia was Bergen's sister, not his wife, and his papers are at Northwestern; if you look through the description of the files, her name appears also. They had planned a second edition, but didn't complete it. She was also a novelist and wrote "The Cloud of Witnesses," and "Journey into the Fog," using the name Cornelia Goodhue. They were born in Ohio.

Bergen Evans, Cornelia Evans, English language, Vocabulary