No one here can tell me what are the best unabridged dictionaries on the market besides the OED second edition, or the Compact OED?
NO one here has any input about the best "Dictionaries of the English Language" (this can be part of the dictionary title), and "Encyclopedic dictionaries"?
What is the differnce between the single-volume and the three volume version of the Webster's Third International Dictionary?
Which version of the Compact OED is more advantegeous-THe single voume version or the two volume version that comes with magnifying glass-and what are the most current versions available?
Do they make compact versions of the WEbster's Third NEw International Dictionary and Random House unabridged Dictionary-Second edition?
Sweet Mother of Mercy - don't you have anything else to discuss???
Mr. Stillwater--
Have you no patience for a man who is searching for words?
I interested in buying these books, and looking foward to purchasing them in the near future, before I go somewhere like Ebay to purchase them.
The most current edition of the COED is the 1991 edition. Is it much different than the 1989 edition? HAS any thing been added to the 1991 edition that isn't included in the 1989 edtion.
Is it more advantageous to buy the Single volume COED or the 2 volkume edition w/ magnifying glass?
THere are two versions of the COmpact Oxford English Dictionary-the Single Volume version and the 2 volume version-both are compact versions of the 20 volume set.
Do they still make the Random House Unabridged Dictionary Second Edition? And if so, what's the most current edition available?
What's the most current edition of the Webster's Third New International Dictionary?
I was told that Kister's guide to Best Dictionaries for Adults and Young People is outdated. That being the caes, what Is the most currrent guide to buying dictionaries available?
I can help you but my long answer got deleted. Are you interested to know? There are other dictionaries and I know which ones. It is not possible to sit with the OED all the time. And others have things which it does not have. The purpose is to have a conceptual understanding of the word and find derivations, idioms, usages etc.
Those are my favorite and best: unfortunately most newer dictionaries don't come near the older ones and some have been ruined.
Webster's New Twentieth Century dictionary unabridged. It is from the 50ies and maybe newer too, but the edition from that time is wonderful. Enough and understandable definitions and usages. Also in two volumes. You will get used to the size. It is huge. It is the best I know of. I simply love it.
Encarta Dictionary. The big one. When you don't find a definition, go there.
Thorndike and Barnhart World Book Dictionary from before 1978 and including 1978 I think. Before this it was changed by a bunch of psychopath psychologists. It has so many idioms and many that you don't find elsewhere.
NTC's Slang and Phrases dictionaries and other such specialized dictioanries. It is also important to always look at derivations so Oxford derivations dictionary is a must or the Concise one.
Then you can take the OED in two volumes with the binocular if you can't afford the 20 volumes or have no space for them and as you can afford them then you sell the 2 volumes one. And you can also do without this one if you find what you need in those books. It is too time consuming to keep looking in the OED. Those I have listed are so wonderful and enough at least for me and I look up 50-200 definitions a day when I study and I study texts that contain really many words. The author used around 200,000 words so I must look them up or I would fall asleep. I hope this info has covered what you need. It is important though to choose dictionaries that are not dinky and too small because they don't give proper definitions and so you don't get the meaning and you will never understand. When you have the meaning and have said enough sentences on each definition and seen usages, idioms, where it comes from etc. then you can use the word and not some synonym for it. Then you have it. And sometimes it is necessary to look it up more that once if it is a bit unusual or in more than one dictionary or in other books than dictionaries. Do some research on it. Then you will be able to read faster and faster if you clear all the words you are not fully certain of and go back and find the one you missed if you get tired or sleepy or yawn.
I forgot one dictionary that must be included if I should be fair and that is:
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. This is the second biggest Oxford and is made from the OED. It is very big and in two volumes. If you want a newer dictionary then this is the one together with the Encarta Dictionary. It is huge. It is very good. Of course it has it all. I'd never get any other Oxford if I would buy one today.
About advice: It is experience that counts. When a teacher trying to teach a subject he never worked with or somebody trying to give advice about something with which he has no real experience, then you get the wrong emphasis. The wrong things get important and the important things unimportant. When you have an area where people try to handle things that are not a problem and they don't handle the things which are problems then they have no experience in that area. So the boss is never on the floor and he don't know what to handle. It is a mixture between that which he thinks and the words from the experience that should be taken into consideration.
Of course the OED is the biggest and any collector would like to own it and anybody who would sometimes use it would also like to own it. Dictionaries are very important to broaden ones collection of words and understanding of language and also of one's own language. To spread the use of dictionaries is to help people, and particularly the one language dictionaries. It is such a pity when dictionaries of a language don't get produced any more as with Sicilian. This has not been good for the people of Sicily. I hope somebody will take on the task to make a Sicilian dictionary and so help the Sicilian people regain their language and identity.
