Today is a great day for the English language and you didn’t even know it. On this date in 1709, the great English lexicographer (word collector and analyzer) Samuel Johnson was born. He has been described as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” and his dictionary of the English language–nine years in the making–is praised as “one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship” (Wikipedia). Such is his importance that there is even a whole episode of the British comedy series Blackadder that is devoted to Dr. Johnson. If I embed the clip below, will you please excuse the potentially offensive British humor in the name of Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and a good laugh. Here’s a humorous peak into the work of a lexicographer.