Dictionary Ramblings

When was the last time you looked through a dictionary? I mean an actual, honest-to-goodness, paper, physical dictionary?

I’ll admit, until about a month ago, it had been a while for me. Don’t get me wrong—I’m an editor, I’m looking up words all the time for work, but generally, I do what I imagine most people do these days: I look it up on the internet. I’m working on the computer anyway, and it only takes a second to pull up Merriam-Webster’s site, especially since it’s one of my bookmarks. Many of my clients use US spelling (Merriam-Webster, or M-W), either because they’re American themselves, or because they’re gearing their work to that market. It’s the preferred choice of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), which is the most commonly used style guide in North America.

But recently, I had a client who was sticking to his roots and insisted on using Canadian spelling. Not US, not British English. Actual Canadian spellings. And yes, there is a “Canadian English” setting on the spellcheck in Word, but you know I’m going to side-eye some of the words to make sure. Context is everything! Editors Canada prefers the Canadian Oxford dictionary as the authority. You know what? There’s no “Canadian Oxford” site. There’s only the general Oxford Reference site, off which queries can be directed to various dictionaries. Personally, I find it unwieldly. With over five hundred years’ worth of reference material from across the English-speaking world, it's not that surprising. I’m sure it would be easier to navigate if I was associated with a particular institution or could afford the premium subscription, but so far, my work hasn’t justified the expenditure that would give me access to all the Oxford variants and dialects dictionaries and references.

So, I purchased a paper copy at my local Chapters. I believe it’s indicative of how often anyone looks at paper dictionaries that it took two sales associates to help me find the dictionaries section (I had remembered where dictionaries USED to be, but you know how retail is. Stuff is always being moved around.)

I was reacquainted with the joys of physical searches.

In online searches, you type in the word you want, and either it’s there or it’s not. Surgical strike. You get your definition, etymology if you care to see it, and synonyms, if you click there. Voila. You’ve found what you need, and you get back to the task at hand.

In a physical search though, there are ramblings. There are all kinds of weird, interesting tangents or paths you could wander off on. I found out, incidentally to looking up words for my author’s project, that the Oxford Canadian dictionary has an entry for Fred Penner, which made me smile. (I was looking up “pennons.”) And the word “dumb-ass” is officially listed (note to those who care to use it, it’s hyphenated in both noun and attributive form in the Canadian spelling, but for the US market, M-W prefers the non-hyphenated “dumbass,” listing the hyphenation as an alternative spelling. Brits don’t use the word, preferring one of their own many colourful terms for foolish people). I can’t remember what I was looking up when I saw that— “ducal/dukedom” issues, I think, it was a fantasy novel—but it struck my eye at the time. Don’t worry for my client, I was billing by fixed fee, not by the hour. But seriously, these tangents only took a few seconds each. Not an extravagant waste of time.

This is the beauty of physical references! The accidents, the serendipity of stumbling across something unexpected that, while not relevant and probably not useful at that time, could come in handy in the future, or at least gives you a chuckle.

 I was one of those kids who spent rainy afternoons surrounded by a pile of encyclopedias (the children’s Golden Book Encyclopedia – they’re long gone now, I don’t know which edition it would have been, but probably from the sixties), one entry having led to the next until most of the volumes were off the shelf. Looking back, the books were outdated geographically, and a little narrow, even in the eighties, but they were fascinating! And a great introduction for kids to learn about researching, while fostering a love of collecting random facts, much like corvids collect shiny objects. It can become an adventure, hopping from one subject to another. Online sources like Wikipedia do have lots of breadcrumb links, but there’s something special about flipping through pages and having your eye catch on something unexpected.

Be curious! Don’t know what something means, or wondering where something came from? Go look it up. And once in a while, use a paper source! Who knows what you’ll find out? I’d love to hear about your research adventures - what weird and wonderful things have you discovered?

Photo shows two large hardcover books sitting on my desk: the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd edition), and the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition. The books are topped by a manufactured stone toad, for interest. He’s bright-eyed and shows amusement at having been used as a foil for large books. In case you’re interested, his name is Algie (short for Algernon, no doubt. I’ve wondered if he would spell it “Algae”), and he lives on the bookshelf near my desk. He offers moral support during projects and sometimes wears my sunglasses.