|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6 |
Today I ordered the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED). I'm quite excited. It looks like an impressive work. And yet it is a mere tadpole compared to that veritable leviathan of lexicography, the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary. Man alive! What an ocean of language! A logophile's Elysium! A paradise of words!
Of the SOED, Onions says it is "to present in miniature all the features of the principal work" and to be "a quintessence of those vast materials" in the complete "OED". Comforting words. Today I make do with the dwarfish off-spring. Tomorrow, perhaps, I will be able to justify those 20 lovely volumes.
With all the free on-line dictionaries nowadays, there are people who say they cannot justify buying a "physical" dictionary. What do you think? Do you own a physical dictionary? Several? Perchance, the SOED? Perchance the OED? Laugh if you must, but for me browsing a dictionary is a pleasure paralleled only by reading a good book.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
anecdotedly, I own inherited the physical W3NID (arguably second in stature to OED2) - it's not much better than a doorstop now, as I also have access to it online. I use it occasionally when the net is down or slow, and sometimes find myself browsing then; but I more often browse online.
(I also access OED2+ through a library proxy.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Since last summer I own the Collins 175 years of dictionary publishing Dictionary. My England vacation souvenir. Less in reputation maybe but is sure got weight! It got 1872 pages. A table book that needs a strong table.
It does not fit on my bookshelves, so it is handled like a pet that has to be removed when it is in the way.
I like to find words that are not in one of the online
dictionaries and anyway, I often prefer not to sit in front of that screen. So...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6 |
My first real dictionary was the Collins Concise English Dictionary. Odd though it may seem, I still remember two of the definitions. It defined "universe" as, "the total aggregate of all space and matter"; and "time", as, memorably: "the continuous passage of events from a state of potentiality in the future, into a state of actuality in the present, to a state of finality in the past." I've never encountered either word defined in quite the same way. I wonder where that dictionary is now.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6 |
tsuwm, is that a large dictionary?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
yeah, it's more commonly referred to as W3. link
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The lovely AnnaS and I own AHD2, 3, & 4, the Compact Edition of the OED (the 20 volume set squoze down to two volumes with 4 pages per page), and the Unabridged Random House Dictionary, not to mention numerous foreign language dictionaries including a diccionario guarani/espaņol and a Rhaeto-Romansch phrase book.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
"Ben", I'm sorry to post this publicly, but I still can't send a new PM. I had this* all ready to go, then decided the least I could do was check your new posts. Having done that, and seen that they show the excellence that you are capable of, I did not submit it. But I'm watching; I'm watching.
EDIT: reference deleted upon request.
Last edited by Jackie; 11/26/08 01:58 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6 |
A curious coincidence?
I'll wear the pillory, Jackie, though I admit it makes typing a little difficult.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
I won't even pretend to understand all that, but I just noticed it says I don't have permission to view profiles. What's up with that? Thanks! :0)
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,347
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
780
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
