[JK1]

Around two or so years ago, I was looking at my bookshelf and noticed some rather large dictionaries. One was a huge unabridged one, another was in two volumes. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't used these in over ten years, and that I have been looking up words on the internet instead.  Soon after that, these dictionaries were in the recycling bin. Google is my dictionary.

 

[Spinnaker]

What did you call me...?

 
 
I think I only had books T and W of the World Books.  Kink of sad when you think about it cause my parents got then with the hope that they would make me smarter'er.  But, funny thing is, about 3 or 4 years ago my parents bought me and my younger brother a copy of the Year in Review for our respective years of birth.  Its basically as World Book with everything and anything that happened that year.  Catch is, when I opened mine, it was for 1980.  I was born in '81...!  When I brought it up they said, "Oh yeah, we know what year you were born, but the didn't have one for '81.  So, we got you a book about the year you were 'conceived'."      

 

[spook76]

Not me. At 48 I still have my tried and true Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition). Google like Wikipedia is not a source I trust.

 

[Makiah S]

My what? 

 

[WNBC]

About a 1000 new entries are added to the Oxford dictionary every year.  Just like with science books we need to stay current with dictionaries.  Online dictionaries combined with your typical search engines are more than adequate.

 

[BirdManOfCT]

Not me. At 48 I still have my tried and true Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition). Google like Wikipedia is not a source I trust.

The only book version I have left is, like yours, the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition), next to Garner's Modern American Usage and the Chicago Manual of Style. By the way, aren't they overdue for the 12th edition of the dictionary?

 

[JK1]

Not me. At 48 I still have my tried and true Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition). Google like Wikipedia is not a source I trust.

When you Google a word though, several dictionary sites appear. Looking at a few of them can help someone get a much better explanation than just looking at a single source in print. When I am looking for information  on a topic on the internet I typically view several sites.

 

[spook76]

When you Google a word though, several dictionary sites appear. Looking at a few of them can help someone get a much better explanation than just looking at a single source in print. When I am looking for information  on a topic on the internet I typically view several sites.

That maybe true but for American English the only source I trust is Merriam Webster as it is considered the definitive source as I hope it remains. The almost universal acceptance over the past almost 200 years in the United States of Webster's as the reference dictionary is the major reason there is actually so little variance in the spoken language in America. Contrast that with Great Britain, where the pronunciations garnered from the Oxford dictionary are not in anyway universally accepted, taught or followed accepting English Public Schools. I fear the disintegration and denigration of the English language without a single reference source.

As for the question about a 12th edition, I have both the paper as well as online version of Websters' Collegiate Dictionary and the online version is constantly updated with new words. However, like you I would like to see a 12th edition.