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| Thread ID: 66233 | 2006-02-15 22:24:00 | An English word definition | Greg (193) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 430707 | 2006-02-16 10:55:00 | There are examples of the word use in www.answers.com Cheers, Marnie |
Marnie (4574) | ||
| 430708 | 2006-02-17 01:06:00 | I'm accessing it as a Wgtn Public Library subscriber. And I've just searched for it again from the Christchurch Public Library and it definitely "isn't there from here". But, it is in the dead tree version of the 2ed OED. :( But if the latest citation is from 1900, perhaps the word deserved to die. The context of the appearances on Google don't look as if the writers found the word in the OED. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 430709 | 2006-02-17 01:20:00 | And I've just searched for it again from the Christchurch Public Library and it definitely "isn't there from here" . But, it is in the dead tree version of the 2ed OED . :( But if the latest citation is from 1900, perhaps the word deserved to die . The context of the appearances on Google don't look as if the writers found the word in the OED . What? So Christchurch can only afford the 1900 edition of the OED? Times must be tough in the big smoke . ;) |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 430710 | 2006-02-17 01:24:00 | And I've just searched for it again from the Christchurch Public LibraryErgo, Wellyburg's online library is better? | Greg (193) | ||
| 430711 | 2006-02-17 01:33:00 | Actually I've just discovered that the full Oxford English Dictionary (20 volumes) is currently on sale. Dead tree version. 550 pounds which looks cheap. Mind you, not sure about the courier charge. :D | Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 430712 | 2006-02-17 01:42:00 | To those who doubted: Thhhhhhhbbbbt! I told you so, but I guess you needed to check just to make sure. Seems that Greg and I were the only true believers, (an odd couple if ever there was one). Thinks: is a couple singular or plural? We always speak of then in the plural, but each pair is/are a singular entity. I need a drink. Cheers Billy 8-{) :confused: |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 430713 | 2006-02-17 01:44:00 | The twenty volumes take up about four feet of shelf . "pontify" is on page 99 of vol XII . But I still can't get it by searching the whole "Oxford Reference online Premium" . Not as "pontify", as "Pontify" nor as "PONTIFY" . I can't get it by specifically searching the OED 2ed . :( Perhaps we have a filter which stops such obsolete words being encouraged, whereas Wellington is full of politicians who might need to find innocuous terms to abuse each other with . A couple or brace (normally used in counting the bag of gamebirds) is singular . Why they counted in twos I don't know . Of course the benefit of being pontifical is that, as a matter of faith, one is "known" to be infallible . Disagree if you wish, but be aware that we've got the firewood and the stakes ordered . |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 430714 | 2006-02-17 02:57:00 | Wgtn library gives the option of Oxford Reference or OED Online which contains the content of the 1989 edition plus later additions. I think the whole point of the OED is that it is a historical record as opposed to the Oxford Dictionary of English which concentrates on currently used words. | PaulD (232) | ||
| 430715 | 2006-02-17 03:24:00 | Aha. I "naturally" assumed that Oxford would consider the OED to be a reference book, and therefore provide it as a part of Oxford Reference. :D I suppose I did wonder about "Oxford dictionary of English", but the 2ed seemed right. Christchurch does indeed have Oxford Online, much further down the access page. :( However, since the ODE is intended to reflect current usage, and none of the other 100 reference works in that collection have any use of "pontify" , I think I would be right in suspecting that those whose use has been found by Google have probably used the word by accident, rather than design. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 430716 | 2006-02-17 04:27:00 | It is in my battered copy of Chambers | Dally (6292) | ||
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