Look It Up

Jeff Vande Wege, whose Jan. 7 letter complains about a Lawrence Christon article, has it absolutely wrong, though his is, I’m afraid, an increasingly prevalent viewpoint. It isn’t The Times’ fault that Mr. Vande Wege wasn’t paying attention in school or didn’t consult a dictionary when he first he heard the words acedia , mediagenic and pusillanimity.

The only criterion for use of any word, obscure or just uncommon, should be that it is properly invoked. When I come across a word with which I am unfamiliar--something which happens many times each week--I grab the dictionary that I always keep within reach while thinking how much I appreciate the writer for exposing me to another previously unlearned aspect of our remarkably rich language.

Please, please, don’t ever dumb-down The Times just to placate those who are intellectually lazy. If this publication is, as Mr. Vande Wege says, too “exacting” for him, may I suggest USA Today, or perhaps My Weekly Reader?

BRYAN STYBLE

Mar Vista