Coming up on Word Matters, clandestine words.
I'm Emily Brewster,
and Word Matters is produced by Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Neil Servin, Amin Shea,
Peter Sakulaski and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
Shadowy spies, brilliant detectives, danger and action.
The language of spy and mystery thrillers has always been a source of captivation for readers,
sometimes even affecting the world of spycraft itself.
Today,
Amon Shea and Peter Sakalowski are here to look at the contributions and popularizations of some of the genre's biggest names.
I think a lot of people think of the dictionary as being primarily literary document,
recording words from literature.
And I think in some ways that was Part of the idea,
I think Samuel Johnson, who was himself a great poet.
I think he thought of his dictionary as a literary document.
Certainly, it reads like a literary document.
He was famous for just drawing thousands of literary citations from his memory.
From his own memory?
Right.
He just kind of plucking them out.