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Subject:Re: need recommendations for dictionary From:Don M Chaffee <dchaffee -at- WORLD -dot- STD -dot- COM> Date:Sun, 18 Sep 1994 04:01:43 GMT
Joe:
If you want to know etymologies, the OED is great; it's also good for
arcane Anglo-Saxon words, terrific quotations, eyestrain, and bed-time
(fall-fast-asleep) reading.
Persons who take writing and editing seriously still use Webster's Second
Unabridged. The Third is heretical, and Houghton Mifflin doesn't know
squat about dictionaries.
W2 is the Big Dic. I keep one open on a stand within reach of my
computer, and another in safe-keeping, in case I ever need to repair a
page in the first copy.
You can usually find a W2 in a good used-book store, or they will happily
find one for you.
