Measurement of someone's heart!!!

Carmen Solis
Engl 1101
Dr. Hughes


Girls love poems, is that right? Well, that term has changed over time. Now, some people, including females and males, read and speak in a poetic tone. There are tons of varieties of poems; it can be a ballad, carpe diem, couple, elegy, lyric, haiku, and much more. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “poem” means “a piece of writing or an oral composition, often characterized by a metrical structure, in which the expression of feelings, ideas, etc., is typically given intensity or flavor by distinctive diction, rhythm, imagery, etc.; a composition in poetry or verse.” This meaning is very complex. Someone like a child would not understand it and, even, some teenager would not either. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the authority is a chief named John Simpson; he searches the vocabulary from an actual source. He has many editors and “receives proposed amendments and suggestions for new entries.” Under Mr. Simpson’s authority, there a lot of people, editors, who chooses which word to put in the dictionary. This OED is a more professional and formal way to look for a word. The OED is definitely a prescriptive because it shows the public how a term should be defined.
On the other hand, I checked in the Urban Dictionary for that same word. It gave me a lot of definitions. Some of them were funny and give someone’s point of view. So, basically, the Urban Dictionary is descriptive because people write what they “think” that word means. In this dictionary, anyone can write and put a definition for any word. It does not have an authority that checks the terms that are added. “Poem” meant “a measuring stick for the depth of one’s heart.” This definition is mostly used by any teenager or person that is in love. If one says this definition, anyone would certainly understand it. There are also some other definitions for “poem,” for instance, it is like a short thing that rhymes and is corny, sweet, or bitchy. All of the definitions are people’s own way to see and explain the word.
I think that both of the dictionaries are right. There is no right or wrong definition. It is just how you explain to someone. The OED is better to use when you are speaking or writing in a professional and formal way. One would look more “sophisticated,” if they use a complex and intellectual sentences. On the contrary, the Urban Dictionary would be better to use when trying to explain what a word is, using simple but descriptive words. The definitions we see in the Urban Dictionary are more casual and used by most of the people. The definition for the word “poem” is the same everywhere; it is just how you explain it that it is different.