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View Full Version : [Dixonary] Rammy question... (Scots question, really)


Dodi Schultz
October 3rd, 2006, 10:18 AM
Dan wrote:

>> I was referring to my recent deal of COOEY where I quoted my
>> definition exactly as posted at
>> http://hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=cooey which allegedly
>> quotes Webster's 1913. I'm not sure if the misspelling of
>> "aborigenes" [sic] was in Webster's, or merely on the site.

Of course "Webster's" can mean any dictionary at all, although I think that
specific references to 1913 denote an edition of Merriam-Webster. At least
in the 1934 ("dord") M-W edition, which I have, the spelling of
"aborigines" is correct. I don't have 1913; I've got 1864, but the word
didn't appear there at all.

If I were a betting person, I'd bet that the goof doesn't appear in the
real-world book and is a typo introduced in the online version. BTW, I
think I'd have corrected it, because I'd think it would send a false
message to players.

--Dodi

Daniel B. Widdis
October 3rd, 2006, 02:18 PM
Dodi wrote:
> BTW, I think I'd have corrected it, because I'd think it would
> send a false message to players.

And I would have, had I recognized it as misspelled. Although isn't the
point of dealing trying to send false messages to players? :)

--
Dan

Daniel B. Widdis
October 3rd, 2006, 03:31 PM
Dodi wrote:
> Of course "Webster's" can mean any dictionary at all, although I think
> that specific references to 1913 denote an edition of Merriam-Webster.

You piqued my curiosity. I poked around hyperdictionary.com and see that
they claim their source is WordNet 1.7.1, (c) 2001 Princeton University.
Researching WordNet indicates that the full name for this source is
"Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Edition" and according to
Wikipedia, is indeed a Merriam-Webster publication.

The Wiki indicates the 1913 Edition is used by many online dictionaries
because its copyright has expired.

Interestingly, every online source I found which uses the 1913 Edition as
its source repeats the typo in the COOEY def. So the source of the typo is
not any individual website, but rather whatever common database all these
sites draw from.

It would be interesting to locate a paper version of the dictionary!

--
Dan