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Which Dictionary should I buy?; (If any)
Topic Started: Jun 26 2005, 09:15 AM (281 Views)
kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Mine is from 1977 and is falling apart.

Thanks I'm not going to spring for the Oxford.
Let's keep this under $100 please.

Which one, and why?

Or is 2005 the year to just go online and toss the paper dictionary?
In this fast-changing information age isn't a reference book outdated practically when it is printed?

Today are students in the best schools taught to just go online, or use the paper ones?
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
[rant]As far as I can tell from working for companies that recruit the top graduates - myself excluded because I was a lateral hire - kids are not taught anything about print vs online or b) how to judge the quality of sources they use either online or in print.[/rant]

The only reason to buy a print dictionary is to fill up shelf space, or if you prefer the print medium over online. Otherwise, subscribe to OED, and/or Miriam Webster.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Webster's New 3rd International for about $80.

Curious as to how many of us as kids used to spend time looking through dictionaries? Or looking up a particular word got distracted looking at othr words?

When I was a kid, if I asked my mother what a word meant, or how to spell it, she would say "look it up". Thanks, Mom!
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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The 89th Key
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Usually, when I'm looking up a word...it's when I'm typing something or talking with someone online, so it's always an online dictionary for me.

Although unless you belong to an organization that grants you access, the OED online is like 300 bucks a year or something?

Either way...it just depends on what [size=7]MEDIUM[/size] you prefer. ;)
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Phlebas
Jun 26 2005, 01:30 PM
[rant]As far as I can tell from working for companies that recruit the top graduates - myself excluded because I was a lateral hire - kids are not taught anything about print vs online or b) how to judge the quality of sources they use either online or in print.[/rant]

The only reason to buy a print dictionary is to fill up shelf space, or if you prefer the print medium over online. Otherwise, subscribe to OED, and/or Miriam Webster.

[rant]

This is actually one of my pet peeves. Because computer use in the classroom is a relatively new phenomenon, a lot of teachers have NO clue how to use them with their students. I am a HUGE advocate of teaching kids how to find information online and how to be critical of what they find. How to tell if a site is even worth looking at for any kind of academic work (including a grade 6 or 7 research project). But many teachers don't take the time to do that. During an interview with my board, I was asked a question about using computers in the classroom, and I went on a huge tirade about how important it is to teach these skills and computers should not be viewed as a toy by the kids, but rather as a learning tool blah blah blah. Eventually, realizing that I had been lecturing for about 5 minutes on the topic, I stopped in horror thinking I had just blown the interview. The principal said "You maxed out on points within the first 30 seconds, but I was so impressed with your answer I didn't want to stop you. Why aren't you teaching at MY school?" That told me that it's a very common problem in schools, and I think will only go away if teachers are properly trained on how to use computers with their kids.

[/rant]

As far as the dictionary goes - I love having a print dictionary, and picked up an old edition of the OED on eBay last year just because i've always wanted one (it was around $100) but I use Dictionary.com for most things.
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
Kenny,

Just upgrade to Mac OS X 10.4.1 (Tiger)

It has the Oxford American Dictionaries built right in the OS!

___.___
(_]===*
o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
I have a Mac and will look into the new operating system, thanks.


dol
I was considering the compact OED and had some questions.

If I buy a new one, what is the revision date?
I ask this because if I buy one I will want the latest edition and need the date it was revised.

New it is about $250, used Amazon has links to copies as cheap as $88 in "acceptable" condition.

My eyes aren't that good for small print, and the magnifier seems like a hassle.
I certainly won't consider the $1500 20-vol set. :eek:
I suppose I could subscribe for $295 a year to the OED online, but I prefer a book I can hold, and $295 is quite expensive if you don't use it professionally.

What is the 2-vol set like? Would it be overkill for me - I am no scholar.
Is it the full 20-vol set shrunk down to 0.005 point font, or something?
Or is it full size font with only 10% of the words of the OED?
Or is it all the words but 10% of the info?
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Kenny,

I don't know the revision date for the newest version. Sorry 'bout that!

I have the two volume set. My understanding is that It contains the same number of words and the same entries, but the actual font size is shurnk down so each page os split into quarters and shows 4 pages from the 20 volume set. Which is why you need the magnifying glass. I actually can't imagine buying one for personal use, simply because it's SO much information - far more than anyone really ever needs. When I was stage managing years ago, I worked with a director who took Shakespeare very seriously, and we had the OED (2 volume) in the rehearsal hall so we could look up unfamiliar, unused words. For that purpose, nothing else would do since most of the words we were looking for are no longer used and wouldn't be in a standard dictionary, but even for that we usually only read about half of the entry for an individual word.
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

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Amanda
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Senior Carp
Kenny:
Quote:
 
What is the 2-vol set like? Would it be overkill for me - I am no scholar.
Is it the full 20-vol set shrunk down to 0.005 point font, or something

Yes, it's as dolmanetc. said and also as per you above.

I have it. I love it, but it weighs a ton and it hardly ever gets used. I love words though, so I enjoy having THE penultimate authority on English vocabulary, etymology and usage - especially the history of a word. If I had the space, I would have a fancy antique cherry lecturn just to hold it - or actually, maybe TWO of them. (That would go with my Castle on the hill, all leather bound library and house staff!) .

Meanwhile, I have never found a better dictionary for ordinary use than the American Heritage. Unfortunately, the most recent editions aren't nearly as good as the classic one from about 1975. MattG (fellow language geek) and I agree it has an unmatcheable set of references in the preface and index, including (I know this will make you stand up and cheer :cool: ) an excellent history of Indo-European and basic proto-Indo European dictionary.

Even if you're not into that uber-language stuff, it has THE best selection of illustrations I have found in any dictionary - most often just what you would have wanted to see to understand. At least the older edition does. The newer one is slightly spottier.

Notice I'm not even discussing on-line resources as an option. Sure, I use them, but if there's one book worth owning in hard copy, it's the dictionary. What are you gonna do, stay ignorant if your Internet connection goes down? That and acoustic pianos - some things have to work without electricity, don't they? :sad:
[size=5]
We should tolerate eccentricity in others, almost to the point of lunacy, provided no one else is harmed.
[/size]

"Daily Telegraph", London July 27 2005
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Amanda
Jun 26 2005, 09:42 PM
I love words though, so I enjoy having THE penultimate authority on English vocabulary, etymology and usage - especially the history of a word.

So what is the ultimate dictionary for you, if OED is the penultimate? ;)

Quote:
 
That and acoustic pianos - some things have to work without electricity, don't they? 


Absolutively!
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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