Do you use a dictionary?

by compound complex 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  Half banana

  Apart from posting here, may I ask what do you do CC?

  I love books, the physical presence of books and of course those sensuous to the touch; old leather bound tomes from the middle and late 19th century. But hey, time has moved on and a lot less beautiful but more immediate in access for definition is the computer. The pronunciation element is a boon too.

  I am an etymology freak so I also use the fat Universal English Dictionary (Routledge, Kegan & Paul) regularly for the Indo-European roots of words.

  When I was about twenty, a full century ago, even though pioneering I had saved up enough cash for the complete Oxford English Dictionary in about twenty volumes. I went to pay but alas it had just gone up another thirty pounds to something like £150 which was beyond my means so I settled for the photographically reduced version instead in two hefty volumes which came with a magnifying glass. Back then I could read the miniscule print without it.
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  Lostandfound

  Have always used hard copy Dictionary, especially for helpwith Crosswords. Use a Thesaurus a lot as well.
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  never a jw

  On line all the time; it's much faster. I wouldn't have any other way. It's been more than a decade since I used a hard copy
  
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  flipper

  My wife and I are big Scrabble players. We are constantly using the dictionary to not only check the spelling of words but to learn the definitions of words we don't know. WE do that when reading books too . Peace out, Mr . FLIPper
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I usually use the online Oxford dictionary.

  I'm very interested in the etymology of English words - they mostly come from Anglo-Saxon or Old English (the language of Bede, Alfred the Great and Harold Godwinson was called 'Englisc'), French (both Norman and Parisian e.g. 'warden' and 'guardian') and Latin.

  I'd like to buy a dictionary that gives detailed notes and references as to words' etymology.
  
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  Lostandfound

  Love uni.....this is very good for etymology

  http:// www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192830982.001.0001/acref-9780192830982
  
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  Vidiot

  I follow the WT's example, and create my own definitions of words...
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  FedUpJW

  Yes, hard copy. I enjoy words. What a certain word means and why it is used instead of some other word. Where it came from, as others have mentioned. Books in general are a favorite pastime.
  
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  GrreatTeacher

  I like the old phonetic spellings; I can't parse the new stuff.

  Yeah, I technically learned it in college, but if you have to use a reference to use a reference...