A Dictionary

On 02/18/99 11:14 PM Karl Hoover (karl@quack.kfu.com) wrote:

>since w are an international list we should
>probably avoid any sort of slang, colloquialisms and local jargon- just
>stick to plain old dictionary English. Now whose dictionary?

There's the rub. 

As one who has long been a keen student of lexicography and owns several 
yards of dictionaries, including the twenty-volume OED, I would 
unhesitatingly recommend The Chambers Dictionary as the most useful and 
up-to-date, as well as the most comprehensive, single-volume dictionary 
of international English. 

Chambers has long been a Scottish publication, but North American and 
other non-UK usages and spellings are clearly indicated. Additionally, it 
contains more botanical and other scientific and technical terms than any 
other one-volume work. Its only flaw, in my opinion, is that it does not 
distinguish sufficiently many of the differences between Canadian and 
American English, often denominating as N. American words and usages that 
are more at home in the USA than north of the border. But then as many, 
if not more, Canadians pay by check as by cheque.

The latest editions of Chambers also offer much for the politically 
correct and incorrect alike. My 1993 edition at hand indicates that 
coolie (or cooly) is offensive when applied to workers in China and 
India, and to Indians in South Africa. But 'coolie hat' is not flagged as 
offensive or derogatory. In parts of the Anglophone Caribbean, 'coolie' 
and 'coolieman' have long been innocuous descriptive names for those of 
East Indian descent and our leading citizen of Newcastle village, Calvin 
David, nearly always introduces himself as 'Coolieman'.

Chambers is not an easy dictionary to find in North America, but well 
worth the search. 

Warm regards,

William Glover

**********************

William Glover
Mango Corners, Jones Estate
NEVIS, West Indies (Antilles)

wmglover@caribsurf.com
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