I found a use for the old super-thick Harrap's that I had to buy way back around 1973.  It is just the right height to elevate my monitor to a good eye level, and instantly relieved back strain.    Apparently you can't look at the screen of flat tops at an angle.  The old dictionary with its red simulated leather and gold print gives a sophisticated air and a splash of colour.

Maxi

 I find that free internet dictionaries are very limited and don't give much context, whereas paper dictionaries are much clearer with regards to the context in which the word is normally used. I tend to use both - normal dictionaries if I'm unsure, and online dictionaries if I'm just checking something that I think I know anyway.

My computer dictionary interfaces with MS word, I don't even have to type it in! but I certainly prefer to use hard copies but it is just not quick enough for translation. Very specialist sources are generally not available or reliable via the web.

Toni

Originally written by Maxi Schwarz-Bastami on August 2, 2009 12:40 PM I found a use for the old super-thick Harrap's that I had to buy way back around 1973.  It is just the right height to elevate my monitor to a good eye level, and instantly relieved back strain.    Apparently you can't look at the screen of flat tops at an angle.  The old dictionary with its red simulated leather and gold print gives a sophisticated air and a splash of colour. Maxi

Well, the bad news is that a 1973 Harraps dictionary should have been donated to a charity shop no later than 1979, At that time, you are unlikely to have had a computer monitor to prop up.

Paper dictionaries are not only easier on your eyes, they give you extra information that on-line or CD dictionaries don't, they enable you to browse a page, when unexpected interesting information can be gleaned - computer ones tend only to give you information you have deliberately searched for (if you are lucky),  Paper dictionaries feel nice to use, I like turning the pages and picking them up off the floor gives me useful exercise.  Sometimes, I actually have to get up and go to another room to find one: exercise and a change of scene!

As I translate French to English, I use French and UK English monolingual dictionaries (Robert, Collins and Chambers) a bi-lingual dictionary (Collins-Robert).  I use a collection of monolingual and bi-lingual specialist dictionaries on engineering, building, and law.  I also use Roget's thesaurus.  All of these are paper dictionaries and I aim to replace them every five to six years.  I also use various on-line dictionaries including IATA, GDT, but find that my on-line searches tend not necessarily to be directed to dictionaries.

Originally written by Nienke Brandsma on August 8, 2009 6:58 AM I tend to use both - normal dictionaries if I'm unsure, and online dictionaries if I'm just checking something that I think I know anyway.

That`s it!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/10/18/the_word_the_case_for_dictionary_day/

Dictionary Day - also known as Noah Webster’s Birthday - was Oct. 16, and throughout the English-speaking world, small children placed their dictionary stands by the hearthstone, hoping that Noah himself would magically come down the chimney and leave them a shiny new dictionary (left open to the word “dictionary,” of course). In some places, Dictionary Day is celebrated with bonfires of the past years’ dictionaries, the baking of the traditional aardvark-shaped cookies, and the singing of etymology carols.

No? That didn’t happen in your household? I’m a lexicographer, and it didn’t happen in mine, either. ...

* * *

Why is it that so many people choose to keep old dictionaries?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Originally written by Jacek K. on October 18, 2009 2:22 AM http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/10/18/the_word_the_case_for_dictionary_day/ Dictionary Day - also known as Noah Webster’s Birthday - was Oct. 16, and throughout the English-speaking world, small children placed their dictionary stands by the hearthstone, hoping that Noah himself would magically come down the chimney and leave them a shiny new dictionary (left open to the word “dictionary,” of course). In some places, Dictionary Day is celebrated with bonfires of the past years’ dictionaries, the baking of the traditional aardvark-shaped cookies, and the singing of etymology carols.

This is a great idea, because some dictionaries really deserve to be burnt.