Do you use electronic dictionaries more than the big books?
by 
Rasher of Bacon
ANSWERS: 4
-
I am a patent examiner. We have a copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary at work. It is a big, thick book and you need a magnifying glass to read it as the print is very small. If I want a quick idea of what a word in a patent specification means I will use an online dictionary, a printed technical dictionary or maybe Wikipedia. If I want to bludgeon a patent attorney about the ears with a detailed citation of the meaning of a word I will use the C.O.D. That is not very often, but it sometimes comes up. About twice a year. For example, calling something a "suspension" of particles in a liquid is not different from calling it a "dispersion" of the same particles of the same size in the same liquid. In that situation you have to back yourself up with a citable document. Online stuff is not very citable since it is usually not attributed to any author and is usually not dated.
-
I can't remember the last time I turned to the hard copy. Heck, even my phone has a dictionary in it, so why bother anymore?
-
I still use a book more often. It is right behind me and it is just habit to grab it.
-
I prefer the big Oxford Unabridged. +5
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC