I'm where yesterday follows today and tomorrow is in the middle. What am I?

The clever wordplay of this riddle points to a common reference book where information is systematically organized. When you consider the alphabetical arrangement of its contents, you'll find that words like "yesterday" (starting with 'Y') indeed appear after those beginning with "T" (like "today"). Furthermore, the word "tomorrow," also starting with 'T', would typically be found somewhere in the central portion of the entire collection of words, not at the very beginning or the very end of its vast alphabetical order. This playful interpretation of word order, rather than chronological time, is key to solving the puzzle.

These essential linguistic tools have a rich and fascinating history, dating back to ancient glossaries that explained difficult words. The earliest known dictionaries, in the form of bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian wordlists, were discovered in Ebla and date to roughly 2300 BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary, Robert Cawdrey's "A Table Alphabeticall," was published in 1604, containing around 3,000 words. Later, Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" in 1755 became a monumental work, significantly shaping English lexicography by providing comprehensive definitions and illustrative quotations.

The creation of these comprehensive works is the meticulous task of lexicographers, who are specialists in the compilation, writing, and editing of dictionaries. They continuously scrutinize vast amounts of written and spoken material to identify new words, evolving meanings, and changing grammatical conventions, ensuring that these resources accurately reflect the dynamic nature of language. From massive multi-volume sets to convenient online databases, dictionaries remain fundamental to education and a vital record of human expression.