[Lexicog] archaic entries

[Erin McKean]

Did you look up the words "archaic" and "obsolete" in the A-Z?

John Roberts wrote:
> David Tuggy said:
> 
>>Anyhow, this proves that when we use the categories we'd better define
>>pretty carefully what we mean.
> 
> 
> As far as I can see, that is exactly what lexicographers do not do. Looking 
> at my English dictionaries they typically have a guide to the use of the 
> dictionary, a pronunciation key and a list of abbreviations of technical 
> terms, where you might find "arch" and "obs". However, none define what they 
> mean by these terms. So this leads to confusion, as Wayne has shown us. :-)
> 
> I notice that my most recently published dictionary, Collins English 
> Dictionary (2005), does not list "archaic" or "obsolete" in its list of 
> abbreviations. They seem to prefer more descriptive accounts of usage, such 
> as "hardly ever used" or "old-fashioned". But I see that "perchance" is 
> described as "archaic or poetic".
> 
> To me this is very ironic. Here we have lexicographers whose sole purpose in 
> life is to define the meanings of words, but they don't define the meanings 
> of their own technical terms. Maybe they think that would be too pedantic 
> for the average user of an English dictionary.
> 
> John Robertss
> 
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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