The quote in the title is what Hamlet answers Polonius, I believe, when he asks him what he is reading. If you are a word-lover, both of what they mean and how they are displayed, then these two stories from the BBC might be of interest.

First is the story of a man who read the entire Oxford English Dictionary in a year. The reading of it did not make him a word snob, however. He says:

“Knowing what to call something makes me more aware of that thing. For instance, it’s not terribly useful for me to know that [the sound of] leaves rustled by the trees is a psithurism.

“I don’t want to walk down the street with my girlfriend saying: ‘Listen, there’s a psithurism.’ But knowing it means I pay more attention to it.”

Similarly, knowing that “undisonant” is the adjective to describe the sound of crashing waves and that “apricity” is the warmth of the winter sun brings these things more often to mind.

“It’s not easy to use them in conversation and so I enjoy them for their own sake. They are like one-word poems.”

Nice.

The second story, is really a photo essay of sorts and shows how movie poster makers employ fonts. Fascinating. As is this story a year or so ago about the creation of the font Helvetica.