TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I will preface this with the knowledge that I did
not see the responses from Monday...
I am confounded that no one has mentioned
serendipity. It is the reason I still visit real
libraries, why I own a copy of a set of 1942
encyclopedia, and why I collect dictionaries.
Not only have there been different methods and
reasoning to how words got into dictionaries (and
which ones), but also, while searching for the
thing you want, you may find what you really
need.
Of course, I use online dictionaries. My
favorite is the paid http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ which I
find very useful... but I rely on a host of
tomes. I personally own and use 7 different
unabridged dictionaries, not to mention a
plethora of industry specific ones. I have begun
to collect industry specific mixed language
dictionaries, they come in very handy on
occasion. My current favorites are a 1940's
Spanish/English for Army automotive technicians.
Saying the print dictionary is dead, is like
saying the internet replaced the librarian... HA!
For me as non-native, my first association to
dictionary is a bilingual o=
ne, German-English in my
case.
I have of course several physical dictionaries at
work and at home, but f=
ound that I use more and
more online dictionaries:
http://dict.leo.org
- because it is more current than my books,
- because it has a lot of special vocabulary that
my books don't have and
- because it has an active community which
discusses translations and whi=
ch can be asked. If there
has been a thread on the word I query, the
thread(s) are always presented=
as an additional source.
Babylon because I can query different source
files at once, giving me var=
ious definitions for
acronyms, giving me simultaneously an
English-English and an English-Germ=
an translation/
defintion.
JensR
<zitiere wer=3D"jsokohl -at- mac -dot- com">
>
> i noticed in recent threads that folks mention
specific dictionaries as
> indispensible (merriam, am. heritage, and so
on...). what i wonder is, =
why
> the need for physical dictionaries when
dictionary.com and other online
> resources provide that info at our fingertips?
or omnidictionary, if
> you're an os x user?
>
> then again, maybe there are valid reasons tech
communicators would use
> physical dictionaries instead of online ones.
just curious.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Doc-To-Help 2005 now has RoboHelp Converter and HTML Source: Author
content and configure Help in MS Word or any HTML editor. No
proprietary editor! *August release. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
