Back in the pre-Internet era, dictionaries were fat, unwieldy things that generally sat on shelves looking important. Once in a while they were taken down and a word was hunted for. There were also smaller, transportable dictionaries that one took to school. If you didn't have it in English class you could well spend that half-hour outside the classroom. And then there were those cute little 'pocket dictionaries'. Their size was small, but they managed to pack quite a punch with a surprising amount of words. The slightly less popular cousin of the dictionary was the wordy and wise thesaurus. The thesaurus was very useful when you were using the word 'nice' in your essay for the fifteenth time.
Dictionaries and thesauruses are the ox and mule of the book kingdom. They may not be beautiful, and don't get all the attention, but they are a loyal, hard-working bunch that humans greatly depend on. The modern day descendants of these useful books are available online. Merriam Webster, Dictionary.com, Cambridge, Oxford, Longman and just about everyone has transformed themselves to the web.
If you think looking up word meanings or synonyms is boring, have a look at Worknik. It's got a delightful bunch of features for those of you who like spending time with words.
Another very interesting place to visit (for us Indians only please) is Samosapedia. A rib-tickling combination of fun, nostalgia, dictionary and Indianisms all rolled into one, it really doesn't get any better than this. Rest assured, words and their meanings will no longer be a 'botheration'.
Dictionaries and thesauruses are the ox and mule of the book kingdom. They may not be beautiful, and don't get all the attention, but they are a loyal, hard-working bunch that humans greatly depend on. The modern day descendants of these useful books are available online. Merriam Webster, Dictionary.com, Cambridge, Oxford, Longman and just about everyone has transformed themselves to the web.
If you think looking up word meanings or synonyms is boring, have a look at Worknik. It's got a delightful bunch of features for those of you who like spending time with words.
Another very interesting place to visit (for us Indians only please) is Samosapedia. A rib-tickling combination of fun, nostalgia, dictionary and Indianisms all rolled into one, it really doesn't get any better than this. Rest assured, words and their meanings will no longer be a 'botheration'.
