Samuel Johnson is often recognized as writing the first English dictionary. I know this because I'm an English major. For an entertaining decpition of Samuel Johnson, you should watch the fourth season of Blackadder when they have to rewrite the dictionary.
That being established, here's the nub. Everytime I hear Samuel Johnson's name, I think he's a black man. And quite frankly, this is a little absurd. Not that I'm racist or anything, but let's face it, back in the days of the first dictionary, not many black men knew how to read. Today in one of my linguistic classes, my professor showed us a picture/drawing of Samuel Johnson.
He's definitely white.
And a little, shall we say, portly.
So why do I think he's black??? All the time??? Even now, when I'm picturing him in my head, he's still black.
According to the wise-woman-of-the-forest (id est Julie), it's because his name is similar to Samuel L Jackson. Probably.
Still, I'm most likely going to be talking about Samuel Johnson the black dictionary writer for the rest of my life.
The end.
i was going to say the same thing that julie said.
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