Thesaurus Sluts

The best Times lede we've seen in a long time kicks off Charles McGrath's review of Joshua Kendall's The Man Who Made Lists, which chronicles the life and times of the creator of Roget's Thesaurus. It goes like this:

Sylvia Plath loved her thesaurus so much that she called herself “Roget’s strumpet.”

Really, that is just perfection. Why didn't we know this? Why, also, didn't we know that the Thesaurus was once called, ahem,
Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged So as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition. Because that is almost as good.