I had a dream the other night that I was back at my first adult job… except this dream didn't reflect the happiness I felt at that job... this was more like a nightmare.
In my dream, I walked up the graceful staircase I used to ascend every day, only to stop in horror at the top. Because in my dream, the magnificent 1933 set of The Oxford English Dictionary (all 17 big, fat, gorgeous volumes of it) was gone! Discarded. Disparu.
Dream-Me gasped in dismay, at which point some minion of Satan behind me murmured,
“Oh, we never used that old thing anymore.”
ACK!!!
Heresy! How do you discard a dictionary that explains not just the meaning of a word, but how that meaning has changed and evolved over time? How do you NOT use something that provides so many hours of fascination and rabbit holes? Most importantly, how will you ever learn the etymology now?!??
No, I did not enjoy that dream At All.
But it did lead to a resolution:
In My Perfect World, I will Own that big beautiful set of the OED.
(And never lose sleep over unknown etymology again.)
6 comments:
Yea, the first with supplement, is far better than the 2nd edition. In the supplements, you get to see what's been added. (It's run together in the 2nd.)
You can get both sets reproduced micrographically. Most come with a magnifying glass. (You'll need it.) It does save room and fetching another volume across the way, but one's less prone to skimming pages (and entries) in search of original word.
Or, large bits versus tiny. I prefer the former...!
That's the beauty of the internet. All the answers are at your fingertips.
I AM someone who appreciates having the actual books, but my wife and I have changed countries a few times and we had to give up our personal libraries.
In my dream world, you can own an OED and i’ll have a 1913 Brittanica and we can live close enough to borrow from each other when a volume is needed.
D-
For me, I'd rephrase that to "I prefer the real thing"
But you're right, micrographic is an affordable option, at least.
Just not as fun to browse.
B-
Yeah, in the real world, a personally-owned set like that is not feasible, even for those of us who stay put.
mm-
Your dream world just became mine!
You've got a deal, lady! :-)
I love dictionaries. Google is great, but there's nothing like thumbing through a dictionary. My dad goes to area schools to hand out dictionaries to 3rd graders through Rotary (some of the rural schools only have a couple of kids in the class!) and he asked me the other day if I thought kids still used dictionaries. My answer was that they SHOULD. We had Dictionary Skills in elementary school. The front of the dictionaries (and they were red) had pages of assignments. I LOVED doing those! It was like going on a treasure hunt!
D-
Yeah, my mom & I used to entertain each other with the wildest-sounding things we could find in the dictionary... Great stuff!
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