rugged

Paul Frank paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU
Mon Feb 7 09:27:45 UTC 2011


I can't find Ron's last post. But is it stating the obvious that
comprehensive dictionaries these days are supposed to record and
explain the obvious? For many centuries Chinese, Arabic, and European
dictionaries focused on rare words or less common words to provide
guidance to poets, scholars, and other writers. Today, dictionaries
record the use of both common and less common words and their uses.
What's obvious to you or me may not be obvious to another user. That's
why the OED's entry for the verb "set" records more than 400 senses.
The fact is that there is an established thread linking "rugged" and
"weather" in English and it's the job of a good dictionary to point
this out. Fortunately, most good English dictionaries nowadays do
point out the existence of this link.

Paul

Paul Frank
Translator
Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
Espace de l'Europe 16
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
mobile +41 79 957 5318
paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
paulfrank at post.harvard.edu

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