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> the OED is primarily a work of historical scholarship. Anyone in the market for a dictionary so that they can look up the meanings of words would be better of

> the OED is primarily a work of historical scholarship. Anyone in the market for a dictionary so that they can look up the meanings of words would be better off getting something else I couldn't disagree more strongly. I use it to learn the meanings of words and there is no better source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16461549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16461549

thaumasiotes 9y ago
If you want to know the meaning of words hundreds of years in the past, the OED is a good choice. That question is relevant to almost no one. If you want the current meaning, the OED is a poor choice.
- bloak 9y ago
  I'd disagree with "almost no one". Lots of people still read books and texts that were composed in the past - it's even compulsory at school - and lots of people have a hobbyist interest in etymology. If I look a word up in a smaller dictionary than the OED I usually find it doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know, or it just raises questions that send me to the OED anyway. Of course you wouldn't use the OED to look up a technical term. Wikipedia would be better for that. What I really love about the OED is how it keeps getting better even in its coverage of old words. There are lots of words which ten or twenty years ago had the etymology given us "unknown" but which now have a detailed explanation, thanks to recent research. (If you want an example, I think the word "koala" is one.)
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > If you want the current meaning, the OED is a poor choice. That's simply not true. The OED has the current meanings, in more depth than anyone else. > That question is relevant to almost no one. Also not true. Most books and other texts were written before 2018.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > That's simply not true. The OED has the current meanings, in more depth than anyone else. The printed OED does not, though there have been separate print supplements to the print edition that get it closer. The online edition, OTOH, does.
    - forapurpose 9y ago
      It depends on how fast the meaning of that particular word has changed. Tangentially, is there a better use case for moving to a database than 20+ volumes of books? To put it another way, if someone had a database and said, 'hey, let's print this thing out - it will be around 20 large books - and sell it!' ...

thaumasiotes 9y ago

If you want to know the meaning of words hundreds of years in the past, the OED is a good choice. That question is relevant to almost no one. If you want the current meaning, the OED is a poor choice.

bloak 9y ago
I'd disagree with "almost no one". Lots of people still read books and texts that were composed in the past - it's even compulsory at school - and lots of people have a hobbyist interest in etymology. If I look a word up in a smaller dictionary than the OED I usually find it doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know, or it just raises questions that send me to the OED anyway. Of course you wouldn't use the OED to look up a technical term. Wikipedia would be better for that. What I really love about the OED is how it keeps getting better even in its coverage of old words. There are lots of words which ten or twenty years ago had the etymology given us "unknown" but which now have a detailed explanation, thanks to recent research. (If you want an example, I think the word "koala" is one.)
forapurpose 9y ago
> If you want the current meaning, the OED is a poor choice. That's simply not true. The OED has the current meanings, in more depth than anyone else. > That question is relevant to almost no one. Also not true. Most books and other texts were written before 2018.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > That's simply not true. The OED has the current meanings, in more depth than anyone else. The printed OED does not, though there have been separate print supplements to the print edition that get it closer. The online edition, OTOH, does.
  - forapurpose 9y ago
    It depends on how fast the meaning of that particular word has changed. Tangentially, is there a better use case for moving to a database than 20+ volumes of books? To put it another way, if someone had a database and said, 'hey, let's print this thing out - it will be around 20 large books - and sell it!' ...