Aren’t there a bunch of old professors in some old English university doing that, paid by the government?
I’m so disappointed 😞
Comment on Online Oxford English Dictionary puts definitions/meanings and usage behind paywall
MurrayL@lemmy.world 5 days agoI feel like the people complaining here have no idea how much work is involved in compiling and maintaining the OED.
This is a full reference of the English language, not just a place to check spelling.
Aren’t there a bunch of old professors in some old English university doing that, paid by the government?
I’m so disappointed 😞
antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Well, you can use it to check spellings too. Medieval and early modern spellings, even. Sometimes when seeing pedantic people online correcting others’ spellings, I used to check OED and find old texts where the “misspelling” existed normally. Ideally the first editions of Shakespeare, with forms such as “scornfull” instead of scornful, etc. So the pedants would either have to admit it’s not such a big mistake, or Shakespeare was illiterate too.
Anyway, yeah it’s drama for its own sake.
OTOH the price is too high, but that’s normal for English academic publications in general. It’s a very rotten market that’s not really aimed at individual buyers but at university libraries.