Thursday, September 25, 2003
For the word geek AND completist in you
New discovery of the week: OneLook Dictionary Search. You give it a word, and it searches through multiple dictionaries for you -- so much quicker when you're looking for a precise definition, or an obscure word, or, as i was yesterday, looking for the popularly-approved spelling of a word. For those who might care, "workflow" is the one and only spelling ("work flow" and "work-flow" just won't do). "Life cycle" is a bit less sturdy in its primacy -- there's two sources that claim "life-cycle" as an equally valid alternative. But with 28 entries to back it up, "life cycle" is clearly the way to go.
Sadly, this is not a back door into the on-line OED. Someday i'll probably shell out the money for a subscription. Or just breakdown and get the cool compact version, complete with magnifying glass. But now i'm wondering -- are there separate US & UK versions of this, like there are for Harry Potter. Would the Anglophile in me insist on getting the "proper" UK version, even if that wouldn't help me in everyday spelling tasks? Does it really matter, since i doubt i'd ever feel comfortable spending $276 on a dictionary, no matter how cool it is?
Sadly, this is not a back door into the on-line OED. Someday i'll probably shell out the money for a subscription. Or just breakdown and get the cool compact version, complete with magnifying glass. But now i'm wondering -- are there separate US & UK versions of this, like there are for Harry Potter. Would the Anglophile in me insist on getting the "proper" UK version, even if that wouldn't help me in everyday spelling tasks? Does it really matter, since i doubt i'd ever feel comfortable spending $276 on a dictionary, no matter how cool it is?
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