Hello, This is most interesting. Speaking of the printed dictionaries as being out of date this is very true - but - keeping old dictionaries does have some merit. Over the years and decades some words have completely changed context due to common use or "political correctness". Having an old source to refer back to will sometimes give some very enlightening information. This is, unfortunately, also true of old encyclopedias. I might refer to the book "1984" which was written in the late Forties or early Fifties. It depicted a society where everything was automated and all printed material was destroyed. When a person or event fell out of favor the entire person was completely erased. Photos showing the person with other people was modified to remove the picture of the particular person. I will give you a for real example of how history is changed. The Army's 45th Division from Oklahoma was one of the first to land on Omaha Beach on D Day. It was a regular army unit and all that good stuff. A couple of years ago there was a blurb saying that the 45th Division which landed so gallantly on Omaha Beach was a Black unit. This is absolute nonsense. It was not a Black unit as I had several uncles who served in the 45th Division from Oklahoma. Beware my friends, do not believe all you read. Cy
-----Original Message----- From: Jfw [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Adrian Spratt Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 2:13 PM To: The Jaws for Windows support list. Subject: RE: dictionary Nicole, All valid objections, and at the risk of list owner ire, I'd like to explain why an installed dictionary is useful. Anyone who has one installed should keep your caveats in mind. Whenever I need a sophisticated definition, I go to Google, where definitions come up from the sources you mention. Remember I acknowledge that Wordweb is basic. Google is also useful if you're unsure of a word's spelling because it will correct your data entry if you give enough context. I do not use the installed dictionary for pronunciation. Here's the advantage of an installed dictionary. Having one I can summon without going online enables me to confirm with little time or effort relatively common words whose definitions aren't as clear in my head as I'd like. I place focus on the word, press the key combination I've set up for Wordweb, and the dictionary appears with the word in the text field. Tab twice, and there's the definition. Tab once or twice more, and there's a list of very basic synonyms. It takes literally seconds because it's so automated. Then I close with alt-F4 and go back to work with almost no disruption to my thought process. Keep in mind that until the last decade or two, people were stuck with paper dictionaries that had to last them years, even decades. In the pre-computer era, I went through college and beyond with an immense braille version of a Webster's that had been published in 1956. -----Original Message----- From: Jfw [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nicole Massey Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:32 PM To: 'The Jaws for Windows support list.' Subject: RE: dictionary An installable dictionary, though at first thought sounds like a good idea, is a problematic endeavor. First off there's the problem that English is not just a living language, but one that is growing like Jack's beanstalk. Any installable dictionary would be out of date before the installer finished its job. Remember that a good dictionary doesn't just include definitions, but also includes audio files for pronunciation of the word, and some words have multiples due to accent or dialectic variation. The second problem is that some estimates put the words in the English language to over 1.5 million words. Having something this big on your system would result in a fairly slow tool, and if you also used it for your spell checker you'd get a lot of false negatives. There are a lot of words few people use, but having them on your system, especially when spell checking, will quickly make the process far more difficult, not easier. Do you really need to have a local definition and pronunciation of Dwang, Jackanape, or vervain? I'd suggest either m-w.com or dictionary.com, or if you can get in good with a university or library that has the OED, use that online. Such a database is just too much to keep up with on an individual computer, and it's one of the real advantages of distributed computing. > -----Original Message----- > From: Jfw [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Adrian Spratt > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:48 PM > To: The Jaws for Windows support list. > Subject: RE: dictionary > > You install this on a PC? If so, which operating system do you have? > Also, could you supply a link to the installable version? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jfw [mailto:[email protected] > jdh.com] On Behalf Of Onwardbob > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:50 PM > To: 'The Jaws for Windows support list.' > Subject: RE: dictionary > > I use Merriam-Webster, and find it very accessible. > > BOB SOUTAR.ONWARD THRU THE FOG > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jfw [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Raymond > Jantz > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 10:16 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: dictionary > > Good Morning all, > For years I have been looking for a Dictionary compatible with Windows > 7 to no avail. I have read a post this morning that strongly suggests > there is a Dictionary like this. I am unable to answer the question > this post asks, but I would dearly like to know what Dictionary this > is. > Thanks > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was > scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.the-jdh.com/pipermail/jfw_lists.the- > jdh.com/attachments/201404 > 10/460dcb16/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > Jfw mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Jfw mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com > > _______________________________________________ > Jfw mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com _______________________________________________ Jfw mailing list [email protected] http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com _______________________________________________ Jfw mailing list [email protected] http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com _______________________________________________ Jfw mailing list [email protected] http://lists.the-jdh.com/mailman/listinfo/jfw_lists.the-jdh.com
