Sentence examples for harmless drudge from inspiring English sources
Don't misjudge the harmless drudge.
If you saw how dictionary editors actually went about their day, you'd quickly understand why Samuel Johnson famously defined "lexicographer" as "a harmless drudge".
But as with the occasional wry definitions in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, of 1755 ("lexicographer... a harmless drudge"), to focus on these words misses the point.
Even though Johnson defined "lexicographer" as "a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge," the drudgery of the Dictionary fell into the decade of Johnson's most important writing and must be seen in part as enabling it.
Their exemplar remains Samuel Johnson, coiner of his job's self-deprecating definition: the harmless drudge (even if a glance at Johnson's persona suggests that no man ever wrote with tongue more deeply embedded in his cheek).
In his 1755 dictionary Samuel Johnson defined the lexicographer as "a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words".
To finally kill off Johnson's 'harmless drudge' calumny, here is a modern dictionary that is the work of a real human being.
He opens with the theme of the drudge—"humble", as well as "harmless"—who can hardly win at the occupation he has chosen.
A lexicographer, if any good, is hardly a drudge, and if bad, is hardly harmless.
