The dictionary has managed to keep up with the changing times. Certainly,
Dr. Samuel Johnson never could have imagined what his work would become. The traditional dictionary still exists, but it has changed dramatically with the
internet. Dictionaries can differ, based on the beliefs of their compilers. Do you include
disambiguations of words and pop culture lingo, or not? With culture changing daily, how do you keep up with all of the additions and changes? My favorite new feature is the dictionary websites that have a pronunciation feature. I was an English major, and even I get confused by the upside down letters and odd punctuation marks in a word entry. Now, with a click of the mouse, I can hear what the word sounds like. This is huge!
Do you remember an illustrated dictionary from your childhood? It was always interesting to see what drawing, sketch, or photograph was chosen to accompany entries, and which entries were special enough to have illustrated accompaniments. I can remember a certain photo next to the "eerie" definition that was particularly disturbing. I was always nervous about looking up E and F words, for fear of seeing the green, pig-nosed creature.
On a side note, did you hear about the folks who protested at this year's
Scripp's National Spelling Bee? Check out the website of
The Spelling Society for their take on the English Language.
