LEXICONS FROM HEAVEN

Ever since J. Bottum’s Casual “You Can’t Eat Alger Hiss” appeared in our June 1 issue, with its account of his toddler daughter’s destruction of his Greek lexicon, dictionaries of ancient Greek have come pouring in from concerned and generous readers — one from a sociology professor who taught himself Homeric Greek, another from a retired writer who insists that all educated people are fluent in Greek and Latin, still another from a classicist’s widow who is sure her husband would want our Books & Arts editor to have it. With thanks to all, we have to insist that it stop: What with all these lexicons lying around, THE SCRAPBOOK is starting to feel guilty that its classical education began and ended with pig Latin.