The end of books?
Joyce Fetteroll
That bastion of the English language, the ultimate authority of
English word usage, currently at 20 volumes, the Oxford English
Dictionary will no longer be printed.
It will only exist on line.
There's an article in the NYTimes:
http://tinyurl.com/5utjba
(You'll need to register to see it.)
I've loved my Roget's Thesaurus for years. Not one of those
dictionary ones. The ones that categories words by meaning. The ones
with an index in the back where you alphabetically look up your word
then scan down through related words to find the number where the
full entry for that word is. It involves lots of flipping back and
forth from index to entries to find that exact right shade of
meaning. Highly superior to dictionary thesauruses which are for word
peons.
I think I used it once last year. It's just so much easier to right
click on a word and choose Thesaurus.
I can't remember the last time I used a print dictionary. It's gotten
to the point where the only time a print dictionary was used was for
games since the computer was upstairs and the games downstairs. Now I
have a laptop and the last time we played Quiddler -- a word card
game -- I looked up questionable words on the computer.
See, now I even have to qualify dictionary with "print". There's a
word for that phenomenon where the word for a common object needs
modified because the word is being used for something else, eg, watch
used to mean what we now call pocket watch. And I bet a few minutes
search online and I'll find it.
(Yes: Retronym (just coined in 1980 BTW, ironically in the NY Times)
with some more examples: guitar used to mean exclusively acoustic
guitar, The Great War was renamed World War 1, talkies became films
and films became silent films, clock gets distinguished as analog or
digital, rotary phone.)
I've even found myself getting annoyed with non-fiction print books
because they don't have a search feature.
The dictionary on my new Mac has an option to look up words on
Wikipedia.
Joyce
(BTW, the NY Times puts out daily email of headlines -- which is
where I saw that article -- that I've been reading for years even as
I've pared so much stuff down that I don't have time for:
http://www.nytimes.com/regi
With that and 3 minutes of time a day I don't get that deer in the
headlights look when someone mentions some current happening in the
world ;-)
English word usage, currently at 20 volumes, the Oxford English
Dictionary will no longer be printed.
It will only exist on line.
There's an article in the NYTimes:
http://tinyurl.com/5utjba
(You'll need to register to see it.)
I've loved my Roget's Thesaurus for years. Not one of those
dictionary ones. The ones that categories words by meaning. The ones
with an index in the back where you alphabetically look up your word
then scan down through related words to find the number where the
full entry for that word is. It involves lots of flipping back and
forth from index to entries to find that exact right shade of
meaning. Highly superior to dictionary thesauruses which are for word
peons.
I think I used it once last year. It's just so much easier to right
click on a word and choose Thesaurus.
I can't remember the last time I used a print dictionary. It's gotten
to the point where the only time a print dictionary was used was for
games since the computer was upstairs and the games downstairs. Now I
have a laptop and the last time we played Quiddler -- a word card
game -- I looked up questionable words on the computer.
See, now I even have to qualify dictionary with "print". There's a
word for that phenomenon where the word for a common object needs
modified because the word is being used for something else, eg, watch
used to mean what we now call pocket watch. And I bet a few minutes
search online and I'll find it.
(Yes: Retronym (just coined in 1980 BTW, ironically in the NY Times)
with some more examples: guitar used to mean exclusively acoustic
guitar, The Great War was renamed World War 1, talkies became films
and films became silent films, clock gets distinguished as analog or
digital, rotary phone.)
I've even found myself getting annoyed with non-fiction print books
because they don't have a search feature.
The dictionary on my new Mac has an option to look up words on
Wikipedia.
Joyce
(BTW, the NY Times puts out daily email of headlines -- which is
where I saw that article -- that I've been reading for years even as
I've pared so much stuff down that I don't have time for:
http://www.nytimes.com/regi
With that and 3 minutes of time a day I don't get that deer in the
headlights look when someone mentions some current happening in the
world ;-)
Joyce Fetteroll
On May 11, 2008, at 6:45 AM, Joyce Fetteroll wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retronyms
And how could I forget!
Star Trek became Star Trek: The Original Series or ST:TOS or even TOS.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> RetronymHere's a whole huge list of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retronyms
And how could I forget!
Star Trek became Star Trek: The Original Series or ST:TOS or even TOS.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-I can't remember the last time I used a print dictionary. It's gotten
to the point where the only time a print dictionary was used was for
games since the computer was upstairs and the games downstairs. Now I
have a laptop and the last time we played Quiddler -- a word card
game -- I looked up questionable words on the computer.-=-
Last winter I had weekly discussions for some SCA friends, at my
house. A couple of times we looked things up in the OED, and a
couple of times in the American Heritage. Once when a laptop-
attached friend of ours was there (to say "with his laptop" would be
totally redundant to those who know him), he looked things up.
One week we were going to talk about "games" and "playing." I don't
have OED access. A friend who works at the university does, so I
asked her to send me the OED entries on "play" and "game." She did.
I opened "play" and hit print and left the room. IT WAS 80 PAGES!!!!
That's crazy. I didn't print "game."
Years back I re-upped for paperback of the month club because they
promised online access to the OED, but it never did work with my Mac
on dial-up at all.
I'll be glad when it's freely available to people someday. I guess I
could take classes at the university to get access that way.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
to the point where the only time a print dictionary was used was for
games since the computer was upstairs and the games downstairs. Now I
have a laptop and the last time we played Quiddler -- a word card
game -- I looked up questionable words on the computer.-=-
Last winter I had weekly discussions for some SCA friends, at my
house. A couple of times we looked things up in the OED, and a
couple of times in the American Heritage. Once when a laptop-
attached friend of ours was there (to say "with his laptop" would be
totally redundant to those who know him), he looked things up.
One week we were going to talk about "games" and "playing." I don't
have OED access. A friend who works at the university does, so I
asked her to send me the OED entries on "play" and "game." She did.
I opened "play" and hit print and left the room. IT WAS 80 PAGES!!!!
That's crazy. I didn't print "game."
Years back I re-upped for paperback of the month club because they
promised online access to the OED, but it never did work with my Mac
on dial-up at all.
I'll be glad when it's freely available to people someday. I guess I
could take classes at the university to get access that way.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
keetry
--- In [email protected], Joyce Fetteroll
<jfetteroll@...> wrote:
Alysia
<jfetteroll@...> wrote:
>TOS.
>
> On May 11, 2008, at 6:45 AM, Joyce Fetteroll wrote:
>
> > Retronym
>
> Here's a whole huge list of them:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retronyms
>
> And how could I forget!
>
> Star Trek became Star Trek: The Original Series or ST:TOS or even
>Law & Order and then Law & Order:SVU and L&O:CI
> Joyce
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Alysia
Schuyler
In a timely way, a connected way, this came in my e-mail box moments ago from Wordsmith's AWAD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHDn7_pmRug Roget and the Beatles.
Schuyler
www.waynforth.blogspot.com
----- Original Message ----
From: Joyce Fetteroll <jfetteroll@...>
I've loved my Roget's Thesaurus for years. Not one of those
dictionary ones. The ones that categories words by meaning. The ones
with an index in the back where you alphabetically look up your word
then scan down through related words to find the number where the
full entry for that word is. It involves lots of flipping back and
forth from index to entries to find that exact right shade of
meaning. Highly superior to dictionary thesauruses which are for word
peons.
I
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Schuyler
www.waynforth.blogspot.com
----- Original Message ----
From: Joyce Fetteroll <jfetteroll@...>
I've loved my Roget's Thesaurus for years. Not one of those
dictionary ones. The ones that categories words by meaning. The ones
with an index in the back where you alphabetically look up your word
then scan down through related words to find the number where the
full entry for that word is. It involves lots of flipping back and
forth from index to entries to find that exact right shade of
meaning. Highly superior to dictionary thesauruses which are for word
peons.
I
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/11/2008 6:45:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jfetteroll@... writes:
<<<It will only exist on line.>>>
That is sad news. I use my dictionary often-much quicker and easier than
using one online. It also has bonuses I can't get from online dictionaries, like
finding new words on the same page or nearby pages of the word I was
originally looking up. There have been many, many times when a quick definition check
has turned into 15, 20 even 30 minutes of adventuring through the
dictionary. Dictionary games with my dad are my first memories of learning outside of
school and learning being so much fun. Bummer. I guess I'd better go out and
get a good one before they're all gone.
Peace,
De
**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family
favorites at AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
jfetteroll@... writes:
<<<It will only exist on line.>>>
That is sad news. I use my dictionary often-much quicker and easier than
using one online. It also has bonuses I can't get from online dictionaries, like
finding new words on the same page or nearby pages of the word I was
originally looking up. There have been many, many times when a quick definition check
has turned into 15, 20 even 30 minutes of adventuring through the
dictionary. Dictionary games with my dad are my first memories of learning outside of
school and learning being so much fun. Bummer. I guess I'd better go out and
get a good one before they're all gone.
Peace,
De
**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family
favorites at AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-<<<It will only exist on line.>>>
That is sad news. I use my dictionary often-much quicker and easier than
using one online.-=-
It's not about ALL dictionaries, it's about the OED with word
histories and citations back to the 9th century.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
That is sad news. I use my dictionary often-much quicker and easier than
using one online.-=-
It's not about ALL dictionaries, it's about the OED with word
histories and citations back to the 9th century.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/11/2008 6:29:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Sandra@... writes:
<<<It's not about ALL dictionaries, it's about the OED with word
histories and citations back to the 9th century.>>>
True, but I imagine the rest are not far behind.
Peace,
De
**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family
favorites at AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra@... writes:
<<<It's not about ALL dictionaries, it's about the OED with word
histories and citations back to the 9th century.>>>
True, but I imagine the rest are not far behind.
Peace,
De
**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family
favorites at AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hilde Kaiser
Hi. I just joined. I have a three year old and just started reading
John Holt this week and had to find an outlet for my enthusiasm.
Boy, did I feel like I came to the right place when I saw a post
mourning the print OED. I love the OED! I have the two volume version,
but nothing beats the complete ones with all the etylomology in
libraries. It was always the starting point for me whenever I would
parse poems in college or grad school. Looking up a word in the OED is
a lovely rabbit hole you could be lost in forever.
John Holt this week and had to find an outlet for my enthusiasm.
Boy, did I feel like I came to the right place when I saw a post
mourning the print OED. I love the OED! I have the two volume version,
but nothing beats the complete ones with all the etylomology in
libraries. It was always the starting point for me whenever I would
parse poems in college or grad school. Looking up a word in the OED is
a lovely rabbit hole you could be lost in forever.