I have a bunch of dictionaries on the shelf in the study where I write. I never look at them anymore. The real fat one was most recently used to flatten out some film negatives that had curled. The truth is that it's easier to go to the computer than the bookshelf.
So easy that I had forgotten what it was like to pick up a dictionary and just browse. Until I picked up Webster's Dictionary for Students - Presented by The Rotary Club of Hillsborough to the Third Grade Class, 2007-2008.
This is a pretty good book - every word a kid would need to know. There is even a glossary of misused and misspelled words at the back, as well as a list of the common spelling rules, like i before e, etc.
I asked my daughter if she had used the dictionary. Sure, the whole class was using the dictionaries the very first day. Great, what was the first word you looked up?
She started to laugh - jackass, page 213.
I'm going back to the computer.
Very cute blog entry! You know that I also write, and I keep a Dictionary/Thesaurus right by my side. It is well used. You don't think I really can spell, do you? And vocabulary? Hey, without that book, it's like - - like - - maybe 4th grade level? LOL
ReplyDeleteLost your email address, otherwise I would have offered you condolances and kudos - for getting hit 29 times, and for surviving it. Anyway, congrats on the budget. It was your post that clinched my "yes" vote.
Email me, so I have your address again.
Great topic. Thanks for reminding me about my battles to win scrabble and spellbound ( a card version) . I needed the book to help me beat my parents and my aunt. It still didnt work but it was enough to get me to look words up and understand their meaning. Nice walk down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteSteve - I think you knew what the the punchline was going to be. Thanks for the dictionaries!
ReplyDelete