There are friends and friends. Some of them don't expect anything from us, they don't bother, they don't bother, they wait for us to come to them when we need them. And when that happens, they give everything. One of them is the dictionary. As we celebrate the European Day of Languages on September 26, I would like to pay a brief tribute to this inseparable and silent friend.

One of the essential requirements to speak and write well is to use a good dictionary frequently, to turn to that good friend that, without leaving its traditional paper format, adapts to the times and comes to us in its new online format. But let's remember for a few moments why use it.

To know the meaning of words. To know how to express exactly what we want to say to a friend, a child, a spouse, a grandmother. To call a spade a spade and, as Seco says, to bring stability and precision to the concepts, almost always vague, lodged in our minds. For example, is it not more accurate to speak clearly of "layoffs" instead of using the expression "structural reforms"? And is it not more appropriate, when referring to a war, to mention "civilian casualties" instead of "collateral damage"? In this line, the appropriate use of words, adjusted to the truth, will probably contribute to achieve in the intellectual spheres of the West an integrating mediation of critical suspicion and benevolence (charity), as Ricoeur points out.

Perhaps we will discover words that we have never used before and that allude to an action or a concept that we knew but could not name. For example, the words exonerate, inerme, calamity, exhale, axiom, cejar, to mention a few.    

We will soak ourselves in appropriate words and leave aside the so-called archisyllables such as: reinitialize, obstruct, problematic, concretizing, optimize, intentionality, that just by reading them we get a dizzy spell. In addition, its enquiry financial aid us to be rigorous.

John Henry Newman states (speech programs of study elementary, The Idea of the University) that a considerable part of the intellectual Education both scholastic and university is to give the mind clarity, accuracy and precision. In summary, to teach rigorous thinking. The inseparable and silent friend performs an excellent service in achieving these purposes.