I don’t know about anyone else, but I was surprised to find I’m in the dictionary. Really! Right there in Merriam-Webster’s, between The New York Times and The New Yorker, under examples of the phrase “anyone else’’ used in a sentence.
“The news and stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state), delivered weekday mornings.” — Siobhan Roberts, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2024
“Or maybe you can get fed but can’t hear a word anyone else around the table is saying.” — Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 17 Jan. 2024
“From this perspective, the moral evaluations of Keynes, Tolstoy or anyone else are irrelevant.” — Nick Romeo, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2024
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happier than anyone else about this. Probably everyone else. But this is so sudden — I wish I’d had time to prepare.
If I’d known I might be cited between The New York Times and The New Yorker in a dictionary through some algorithmic, possibly fleeting, fluke, I might have picked my words more carefully. Said something of more importance than a complaint about not being able to hear over all the noise in a restaurant. I might even have thrown in a reference to Tolstoy, Keynes (or anyone else) of my own.
I don’t know how anyone else would have handled news like this, but I would have appreciated some time to brace my K-through-grad-school teachers for the shock that I had made the dictionary, too. Friends from high school. Coworkers. Members of my immediate family.
“No way!” a former teacher says.
“Jump back!” a friend from high school says.
“You should get a royalty or commission,” a coworker says.
“Can you look up if you’re also an example of cleaning your side of the bathroom sink?’’ a member of my immediate family says.
Just did. I’m not.
But, apparently, I’ve been in the dictionary for a lot of other words. Really!
“Some sources point to friction with Soon-Shiong’s 30-year-old daughter, who in recent years has apparently appointed herself the paper’s unofficial ombudsman.” — Jason McGahan, The Hollywood Reporter, Jan. 2024
“This guy apparently did not understand the assignment.” — Becky Krystal, The Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2024
“Famous for food, fine dining … and, apparently, low potential risk for hearing loss and retirement mistakes?” — Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 17 Jan. 2024
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Apparently, there have been other examples in Merriam-Webster: Davenport, from a story I wrote a few years ago describing the homey Midwestern decor in the living room of Harry S. Truman’s Little White House in Key West; diners, from a column about noisy restaurants (again!); noise, ditto (you may detect a trend); tarte tatin, about the noted French dessert, because, really, who wouldn’t want to be cited with that when you look it up in the dictionary; grille, about faux filet grillé, a noted main course in France that is definitely NOT a veggie burger; and, of course, sea oats.
Sea oats! Really?
Sea oats on Sanibel Island off Florida’s west coast. (Mark Gauert/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“Around 100 horses roam in the Corolla herd and have adapted to eating sea oats, persimmons, acorns and other native grasses on the island, the News & Observer reported.” — Peter Aitken, Fox News, 2 Aug. 2021.
“The ospreys and other shore birds had gone quiet now, the wind had fallen to whispers in the sea oats, even the waves seemed to slosh ashore in a hush.” — Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 4 May 2021.
“Officials in Panama City Beach on Tuesday introduced a program that allows tourists during their visit to help build homes and plant sea oats in the sand dunes of neighboring Mexico Beach.” — Associated Press, 15 Jan. 2020.
Not that I’d allow this algorithmic, possibly fleeting, fluke, to go to my head. No, no. I know I’m capable of endless errors of grammar, spelling, light housekeeping.
You may be surprised to find me when you look up certain words in the dictionary. I know I was. But I’m no authority.
I may know more about sea oats than anyone else eating faux filet grillé and tarte tatin on the davenport, but, apparently, you’ll never hear it over the noise of the diners.
Really! You can look it up.
Mark Gauert is the editor of City & Shore magazine, which is published by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached at mgauert@cityandshore.com.