the best dictionaries

[Thomas M. Paikeday]

Remember the Latin adage "Timeo hominem unius libri" (I am scared of the man
of one book). I was reminded of this when I read Grant's one-word test for
finding the best dictionary! Sorry to sound so negative.

TOM.
www.paikeday.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Grant Barrett" <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: the best dictionaries


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
> Subject:      Re: the best dictionaries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> Before I started working for OUP, I usually recommended MW10 or MW11 as
> a general-use dictionary, but now I just tell people they can eliminate
> a slew of bad dictionaries by looking up "fuck." It it's missing, don't
> buy. Either the word has been omitted for space reasons (meaning, to
> me, that the dictionary has insufficient coverage),  or it has been
> omitted for prescriptivist, religious, or moral reasons (meaning, to
> me, that there may be other biases of which I am unaware). I've been
> looking for a politer, similar bellwether word, but I can't find a good
> one. I tried "ixnay" but too many good dictionaries don't have it.
>
> I am about to give a full-coverage descriptivist dictionary as a gift
> to my middle-class, Midwestern sister and brother-in-law, and their two
> children, and I fully expect all hell to break loose when they reach
> the F pages. The corrupting influence of the New York uncle must be
> maintained.
>
> Grant
>
> On Dec 15, 2003, at 20:31, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>
> > A friend asked me, "How do you know what the BEST dictionaries are?"
> >
> > How do professional linguists and lexicographers answer that question?
> >