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#62251 03/25/02 03:47 PM
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>OneLook.com gets you ... all dictionaries in one crack
True, but it's slow and I still find lots of stuff only elsewhere (particulary MSN's dictionary, of all places).
>google.com ... be the best of the search engines (any other opinions?)
Agreed! That's why it's at the top of the list ;-)

>wouldn't it be kewl if ... OneLook could work out a deal with OUP ...
That would be great, but as you said unlikely. BTW, Does anyone know the cost of the online subscription? (I wrote to the address at OUP's site, but no response as yet.)

>btw, Josh, it would help ... if you gave ... context
Sorry! Gnu Bee Mist Ache.



#62252 03/25/02 03:50 PM
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Dear Josh: in another thread there was a question about "seizin" and "froehold". I found "seizin" defined, with "froehold" used but not defined. I wonder if "froehold" could be a typo for "freehold".


#62253 03/25/02 03:57 PM
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>cost of the online subscription?

it's $550 per annum for an individual, way beyond my means; but I found that I could get free access through our public library -- I only have to deal with the nuisance of using a proxy server.

http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/

#62254 03/25/02 03:59 PM
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Re:I enjoy the Easter egg hunt...

Oh its been a while! have you any for W2K? or MS office profressional suite XP edition? after all it is easter week!

For those of you who are unaware, a computer easter egg is a bit of coding a bored programmer has added to an application.

One old example was in MS Word (Office 97!) if you typed zzzz, that is 4 z's, (not 2, or 3!) and ran it through the spell check, as an alternate word, it suggested sex--!

easter eggs are named because one of the first created an easter (decorated, colored) egg, that opened, and a rabbit came out. one common use of easter eggs is to list the names of all the programmers that have worked on a project. but some are fun! there was a great one in Excel a few years ago, that mimic a flight simulator routine!





#62255 03/25/02 04:01 PM
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OED
>$550 per annum
Yikes! I guess I'll buy the CD-ROM!

>free access through ... library
I'll have to look into that, but I'll still probably just get the CDROM (about $250 direct from OUP, or somewhat less from ebay, etc.)



#62256 03/25/02 04:06 PM
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Re:I enjoy the Easter egg hunt...
>have you any ... computer easter egg[s]
Try http://www.eggheaven2000.com


#62257 03/25/02 06:13 PM
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So--what the heck is a froehold?

That must be a typo for freehold, which is an estate for life or in fee; the right to a title in land. To be a freehold (can you guess the etymology?), an estate must possess immobility and indeterminate duration.

US property law is still firmly rooted in the soil of feudal England, and the concepts and terminology of those days are still in use.

Seisen was originally the completion of the feudal investiture through possession. Waaaaay back when, the conveyance of real estate was not complete until the granting lord picked up a clump of the dirt and handed it to the grantee.


#62258 03/25/02 08:52 PM
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#62259 03/25/02 09:00 PM
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aspergations - couldn't find it in Phrontistery either. But found "asperge" meaning "to sprinkle"

but dr. bill, surely you know this board has been sprinked with our pixie's aspergarions for almost two years?


#62260 03/26/02 03:56 AM
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Bill, there is a noun 'asperges' (pron. ass-PER-geez) which is interesting. It is the name for the doodad which is used by a priest, bishop, cardinal, etc. to sprinkle holy water. If you have not actually seen this in use, you have probably at some time or other seen a picture in the newspaper or a magazine of someone blessing the fishing fleet, or the foxhounds, or something, and sprinkling it with the asperges. It's a metal rod (often silver) maybe 8 to 12 in. long, with a perforated bulbous head which is dipped in a small bucket of holy water and then waved to disperse it on something or someone.

The word comes from the Latin text of a verse of a Psalm: Asperges me Domine hyssopo et mundabor which the AV translates as Purge me O Lord with hyssop and I shall be clean. This was chanted during the Lavabo, the ritual washing of the hands by the priest in the Mass, and was transferred to the act of aspergation (using the asperges).

The word 'asparagus' came from "asperges" because of that vegetable's resemblance to the implement. One of the most roundabout derivations I know of.


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