The Dictionary's Retirement Party

At the retirement party for the Oxford English Dictionary's chief editor, someone asked what he'd do with all his free time. 'I'll finally read for pleasure,' he said. 'What will you read?' someone asked. 'Definitions, probably. Old habits. But recreational definitions. Leisurely ones. Maybe some synonyms on weekends.' He paused wistfully. 'I've spent forty years ensuring others can find the right word. Now I'd like to forget a few.'