Thesaurus Wars: #3

         Let's go back to the beginning for a few moments: Stephen Sondheim used a Clement Woods 193(2)? rhyming dictionary and a Roget's Thesaurus 19th edition, which falls somewhere around the forties. Willie Plaschke uses Microsoft Word (or as Dr. Steve Brule puts it, 'Micosoft Word by Bill Grates') synonyms with a click of a button. I have found a thesaurus my aunt used to own (Websters) and one my mother owned (Rogets) and I've decided to waste time. See earlier posts.
I feel as if a lot of this is pretend profundity.

Rogets gets a point for being Sondheim's brand, while Websters gets a point for being more current. Zero, zero. A further caveat, or catch, or cinch, or boastful, beautiful babyhood ghost (just a smattering of Websters): I'm using Rogets while writing these thesaurus posts. Because it's Sondheim.

I've decided to divide this into four seperate rounds, adding a few words chosen at random from Websters, and subtracting others (like "hard," which is too general).

 So, first round: Main, Tumultous
       second round: Absolute, Wacky, Forgiving
       third round:  First-class, Boil, Arriving
       final round: Subtract, Thought

I'm realizing that while I want to finish this project, I want to finish it quickly, and I do not want to waste my energy on something not well-thought-out, or rather, something heedless and thin because of the absence of any actual research. I also chose the first two thesauruses I could find, attractive paperbacks some 20 years apart in publishing date. Talk about thin.

What I'm trying to say here is that I don't really CARE which thesaurus is better--I don't care because I know it's impossible to decide for sure, or even for a halfway sense of certainty. I haven't even established guidelines--I don't know what I want, and I don't know what the project wants; I don't know what is warranted for either. I want to get something out of this, though---which is why I will trek on, against all odds, to find something. What else do you expect? "Whale Watching"s unofficial slogan is "Where Fun Comes And Stays For a Long Time." Stay tuned for second round, where the unforeseen awaits: or, a bolt out of the blue.