On Mon, 11 May 2015 20:29:37 +0000 (UTC) James <wirel...@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> »Q« <boxcars <at> gmx.net> writes: > > > > tl;dr: Is an update to the myspell-en Oxford spelling dictionary > > really wanted by anyone? > > Oxford is known as the 'the reference' for unabridged dictionaries in > English (at least this is what some psychotic professors tortured us > with, in English 101/102 some decades ago; leather helmets, dinosaurs > etc)...... ymmv. For meanings and etymology, the OED is the gold standard, but we're just talking about spellchecking dictionaries here. The Oxford spelling is *not* the spelling used by most of the UK. It's the official spelling of the Oxford University Press and some academic journals, such as /The Lancet/, and people writing for those publications need it. Most Oxford dons don't use the Oxford spelling. IOW, only people who have to write according to style guides which explicitly specify Oxford spelling need an Oxford spellchecking dictionary. I'm interpreting the feedback from you and Joost to mean "yes we want a good UK spelling dictionary", which you'll get. If it really is *Oxford* spelling one of you needs, I need to hear a more specific plea (e.g., "I write for The Lancet/"). My mother has a Ph.D. in English Lit, and there was always a concise OED around my house when I was growing up, but she was unaware of the "Oxford spelling" until I asked her about it recently. The main difference between standard UK spelling and Oxford spelling is that Oxford spelling uses -ize endings (criticize, optimize) whereas standard UK spelling uses -ise. Using Oxford will make most readers think you're using American spelling, since Americans use -ize. > I hope it is available system wide for a variety of apps? Yes, these are system dictionaries. `equery d hunspell aspell enchant` will probably show you most of the things on your system that use these dictionaries. (I don't know what GNOME uses, but it probably depends on either hunspell or aspell.)
