Re: Boffins & saving email
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Wed, 01 Sep 1999 09:38:51 -0400
At 9:01 PM +1000 on 9/1/1999, Camille wrote:
> ... and it was mere weeks ago that Encyclopaedia Britannica
>announced that
> they would no longer publish in hard copy, only on the cheaper and
>easier
> CD Rom. Still ... seems to lose a bit of its charm, don't you think?
Yes ... I grew up with a used copy of the EB and used to while away
the days picking entries randomly. I still remember the smell.
A CD-ROM doesn't quite smell the same....
> My
> most elaborate dictionary is a massive two volume Funk & Wagnalls
>that does
> the trick if your reference point is before 1965 (:
I don't know ... there are a lot of people who never forgave
Webster's for the shift it made after its 1960s edition, when the
dictionary shifted from prescriptive (how the word should be used) to
descriptive (how the word is used). I know a couple of people who
wouldn't part with their unabridged 1960s edition for a brick of gold.
You can always toss a newer dictionary on your shelf for more recent
citations. I insanely own a shelf of them, several unabridged, and
if I'm maniacal about a word I would go through each to compare the
definitions and other facts. Of course, this is quite painful when
you have to move....
Obligatory Salinger Reference: he does not appear in the OED! Drats!
Even the word "crumby," a variation on "crummy" that has been
discussed here before, does not cite "Catcher" as a source; it is
noted as slang, its earliest use is 1859, "Crummy-doss, a lousy or
filthy bed," and it is not until AFTER "Catcher" was published that a
printed version is cited with a "b" inside:
1956: R. Fuller, Image of Society vi. 156 "The place soon
got to look crumby."
Ah, dictionaries -- you have to love them. If you REALLY enjoy
etymology, check out what Jesse Sheidlower is doing at
http://www.randomhouse.com/jesse/ (Jesse's Word of the Day). He
knows more words than anyone alive, I think. 8-) One of the books
he has written is "The F Word," which is a history of the word Holden
spends so much time eradicating. Another is a compendium of his
"Word of the Day" entries of obscure words he has featured on his web
page.
--tim