Biggest. Dork. Ever.
My new toy arrived yesterday, and it goes by the name Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Fifth Edition. This is it kids, the nearly plus ultra of dictionaries. Not only are pronunciations given using IPA, but as the Economist points out in its review, this is the first OED variant to be compiled using an electronic corpus of citations for greater fidelity to the English language (as opposed to some Johnson-esque prescriptive lexicon). As with its elder, the 20-volume OED, each entry in SOED provides etymology and many entries include citations illustrating the word's usage, nicely set apart by a gray background. The design is gorgeous, too. My only complaint is that the dust covers are atrocious but fortunately very easily removed.
Posted by ned at April 18, 2003 12:14 AM