Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
- From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 13:20:00 -0800
Well, then, maybe if you pick up a CD of Charlie Parker tunes, for instance
the nice single disc compilation from the Ken Burns jazz documentary, you'll
find yet another interesting thing related to this slang word. To listen
to, I mean.
Just being a music fan. Not assuming I've sold a CD or a player, here.
Just waving the flag for a great American musician.
From: "Rosemarie Chavarria" <knitqueen2005@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
Hello. That's interesting about the slang term of yardbird. I've heard of
a jailbird but not a yardbird.
Rosemarie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
> Hi Jerry,
>
> Sorry if you're offended by my having intruded to ask these questions when
> you wish to be communicating only with the other person, but thanks all
> the
> more for bearing with me.
>
> You don't say how accessible the normal functions, reading and searches
> are
> with jaws, but as you didn't complain, I'll assume it works with jaws.
>
> As far as the pronunciation goes, there are times when I'm curious to hear
> a
> conventional pronunciation of an unfamiliar word, and I don't at all trust
> Jaws to know how to phonetically parse many such things. Once I'm sure of
> the predominant pronunciation, *then* I can tweak the Jaws dictionary to
> say
> the word as I want it to. But I don't think there are words I don't know
> yet that Jaws knows how to pronounce. That's been my experience, so far.
> I
> don't hold it against Jaws. I enjoy playing with the dictionary to invent
> a
> spelling that will get Jaws to say things correctly. That's a fun
> challenge.
>
> Last, I was amused by your digging up "yardbird" from the dictionary, but
> I'm a little surprised, given the dictionary's virtual heft and the fact
> that it's American, for there to be no mention that this was the (very
> famous) nickname of the great jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker. Honestly,
> that isn't culturally esoteric, not by a long shot. But whatever, as we
> say.
>
> One last question: Thinking of other sorts of words, not slang like that
> one, does the thing provide etymology, or not? You didn't say. You know
> what I mean? Say, take the word "inspire." An etymology would explain
> that
> the word's derived from the prefix "in" plus the Latin "spirar," to
> breathe
> (and therein is the earliest meaning of the word, the idea that a
> brilliant
> insight or creative idea was gotten by metaphorically or actually
> breathing
> in the spirit and the breath of the gods), and from there it would relate
> those syllables (morphemes, actually) to their earlier origins in earlier
> languages and language groups, back to proto Indo-European, where you
> could
> see more connections.
>
> Does it have this sort of stuff? This isn't an academic question. A good
> dictionary always includes etymology, and it doesn't have to be big enough
> to need a stand in a library for that.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "G.W. Cox" <gwcox2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 11:25 AM
> Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
>
>
> Firstly, I was responding to Pranav, but that's OK.
>
> My guess is it is the equivalent of those behemoths that libraries put
> on a pedestal. If you look in popular applications with Jaws in the help
> menu, you'll find it under Random House. There is another one which I
> believe is like the collegiate and coupled with a thesaurus.
>
> I don't know how well the pronunciation works. I think I may not have
> installed that since I would have Jaws running anyway.
>
> As far as looking up a word, I got as far as y a r d b and it echoed
> back yardbird for this definition--
> bird (yärdÆbûrdÅ), n. Slang.
>
> 1. a convict or prisoner.
>
> 2. an army recruit.
>
> 3. a soldier confined to camp and assigned to cleaning the grounds or
> other menial tasks as punishment for violation of the rules.
>
> [1940-45, Amer.; YARD2 + BIRD, by analogy with JAILBIRD]
>
>
>
> I guess the only detraction may be that some phonetic symbols translate
> poorly in Jaws.
>
>
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 11:55 AM
> Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
>
>
> Jerry,
>
> I just took a look at the listing online, and it does appear to be more
> the
> sort of "serious" dictionary" of which several different versions are
> sitting in one of my bookcases, untouched except for dusting for more
> years
> than I care to enumerate at this point. So far, so good but, and here
> there
> may be a Catch-22, I'm aware-- do you have experience with this, using
> Jaws?
> If so, how accessible is it in most of its uses, except of course for
> the
> illustrations? Does the search function work okay with Jaws? Do the
> definitions read and navigate all right? Does the pronunciation feature
> speak without conflicting with Jaws or being silenced by its presence?
>
> Thanks a lot.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "G.W. Cox" <gwcox2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 10:34 AM
> Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
>
>
> I believe you meant Francis. The one I'd talked about was the Random
> House Webster's Unabridged at
> http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=webster%27s+unabridged+dictionary
>
> It is the CD version, about $20 and the equivalent of the 2,256-page
> hardcover.
>
> Jerry
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pranav Lal" <pranav.lal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 9:37 AM
> Subject: Re: Seeking accessible offline dictionaries
>
>
> Jerry,
>
> The description states:
> How does this compare to a standard dictionary? Well, a standard
> desktop dictionary contains about 110,000 words with definitions and
> is about 800 pages.
> However, the UTD also includes sentences using each defined word in
> context, for every "sense (meaning)" of the word.
>
> PL] Is this feature in the demo? If yes, I cannot find it. Try the
> following words
> hubris
> Bowdlerize
> definition
> exquisite
>
> Finally, the lookup word combo box does not seem to support copy and
> paste? I have tried pasting text into it and nothing happens.
>
> Pranav
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Pranav
>
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