posted
Pretty much every time I sit down to edit. The Thesaurus and the Dictionary live beside the computer in our house (hardcopy ones, obviously). The only problem is when that pesky crossword doer runs away with them
posted
I don't think I've ever used one. But I read so much that I have a pretty large vocabulary. I don't mean to say that a thesaurus is worthless, just that to date I haven't felt the need for one. In future, maybe I'll use one more, though I doubt it.
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Am I the only one who cringes from the misplaced apostrophe in this section title? Plural form never uses an apostrophe.
I often use a thesaurus to double check my meaning. Every once in a while I use a word for which I have a pre-conceived concept, only to discover the actual word meaning leans in a slightly different direction than I intended. My other use is to simplfy my writing. I have a tendency to be verbose, and I run the thesaurus check to remind myself of more common meanings that don't raise the "fog index" of my writing. Once of the things I admire most about OSC's writing is his ability to convey complex stories using common language. There is a point where high-fallutin' language becomes a barrier, and I am working on simplifying my work.
Edited for simplicity.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited April 07, 2005).]
posted
I, too, noticed the extra s after the apostraphe.
I use the tesaurus often, but not everytime I sit down. It's not that I don't have a large vocabulary, it's more than I don't have an instant recall of it all the time and for some reason, this seems to be getting worse as the years progress. (I would call it age but I"m only 27....) Anyway, I start wiht a similiar word in the thesaurus and often find it. I also use it to check meaning because MS Word's thesaurus tool is closer than the nearest dictionary, even the on-line ones.
And sometimes I'm just getting bored with a word and use it as a thesaurus, to find a better word with the same meaning. I use it this way sparingly. I never intend to sound like I thumbed through a thesaurus.
posted
Actually I think the problem came from the fact that 'thesaurus' which is singular, already ends in 's' and benskia wasn't aware of how to pluralize it. For future reference, the plural is 'thesaurii.'
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
The problem with English is so much of it is not English but some foreign word assimilated and bastardized from it's original form.
Posts: 451 | Registered: Dec 2004
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sorry, couldn't help it. "it's" is a contraction of "it is". no exceptions. "its" is more parallel to "his" or "hers," which do not take an apostrophe.
[This message has been edited by Beth (edited April 07, 2005).]
posted
A tesaurus is what happens when you don't proofread carefully before hitting send. It's kind of a cross between an oops and a doh!
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Isn't "tesaurus" a related form of teseract? I believe it is the point in which space folds between the beginning and end of a word.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
forget tesauruses, i'm still wondering what a thesauraus is
seriously, i basically never use a thesaurus... i use the one that's up in my cranium. if i don't know a word without looking it up, it shouldn't be in my writing.
quote:I have a suggestion for (Elan) - buy a dictionary. You might find it better suited.
I HAVE a dictionary. Two of them, plus one each in French, Spanish, and Russian. However, that would require a focused effort to flip through the pages trying to find the word while squinting at the tiny print (or spending half an hour searching for my reading glasses which I don't use with the computer). In short, I find the word processing thesaurus a much quicker check.
posted
I don't use Thesuru... *cough* much. I do have a tendency to use dictionary.com many times though. Sometimes for spelling and other times because I've been reading OSC's essays recently and the like, and his vocabulary dwarfs mine.
If you guys talk about grammar so much, within a year, I might go from sucking at grammar to only slightly sucking at grammar. W00t!
edit spelling change
[This message has been edited by Mr_Megalomaniac (edited April 10, 2005).]
posted
Speaking of dictionaries (I know, not exactly on topic), does anyone know if there is a "dictionary" on the web that can take a word from an unknown language and identify the language (I know what the word means, just not what language it's in)?
I suspect this would be some kind of "universal translator" search engine.
If anyone knows of such, it would be useful to me, but it might also be useful to anyone who wants to use a made-up name for a character and be sure that it didn't turn out to mean something embarrassing in some unknown language.
posted
Thanks, Elan. They don't have a very large list of possible languages on Babelfish, at least not so far as I could tell.
HSO, the word is "murakoza" and it means "thank you." The language is from Africa--Rwanda, I think, and I want to know what we call the language so I can find more words in it.
I haven't tried Google. I guess it would be interesting to see what comes up if I do.
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