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.

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.)

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...

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.

tsuwm, is that a large dictionary?

yeah, it's more commonly referred to as W3. link

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/español and a Rhaeto-Romansch phrase book.

"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.

A curious coincidence?

I'll wear the pillory, Jackie, though I admit it makes typing a little difficult.

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)

permission to view profiles. What's up with that? No idea, but I think Anu's post said he's working on it.

Me too, what Twosleepy said and I'm getting the same thing about the profiles. Just tried look at Jackie's and it wouldn't let me.

Ok, lemme see: my posts say where I live. I'm 55, married with two young-adult children; retired from being a social worker; white. Oh yes; I love word puzzles, music, and reading. And most animals. Anything else you wanna know?

Yeah, how many syllables in that?

"thay-at"
two syllables

Thayat's thuh ansewer ah ayxpayackted, hyuk hyuk

Are you kidding? She even thinks there's two syllables in y'all.