I Really Want ... This

And now, for something a little different:

I really, really, really want the complete, printed Oxford English Dictionary. I look at the pictures on Amazon, and I drool (please excuse me while I wipe the corner of my lips). I was the geeky kid who read the dictionary and the encyclopedia while in the bathroom.

I DON'T want the CD ROM version. It's for Windows PCs only, which means that it's got an awful interface (Clarendon Press claims a Mac OS X version will be available in 2009). Windows or OS X aside, something this wonderful can't ever properly translate into mere bits and bytes. It is slow and the mere electronic format makes it antithetical to the browsing one should do with this type of reference. I've had CD-ROM versions of dictionaries and encyclopedias, and they always disappointing. Features that should be a natural for computerization are overlooked, and ease of use is never a consideration. Worst of all is the DRM. In the case of the OED CD-ROM version, if it's transferred to a hard drive, the actual CD has to be inserted every month for verification. That is ridiculous.

The On-Line version isn't much better, simply because of the cost: $295 PER YEAR! That just doesn't seem right, considering the actual cost of the physical books ($800 from Amazon), which means that after three years of subscribing, I'd have more than paid for the set. Plus the Mac OS uses the OED as its internal dictionary, so I really don't need to spend $300 a year just to look up a word.

What about the Compact version, you ask? Well, I have that - and while it's useful, it's not easy to use. The magnifying glass is not just a gimmick - the serif font is probably less than 1 point, and my ageing eyes are having difficulty reading the newspaper these days.

I want to actually read the OED - to be able to pick up a volume late at night, and skim through it. To browse through a volume at random and learn about words and meanings and origins. I want to be able to do this. Okay, well not in one year, but maybe in my own lifetime. A dear friend - a published author and former college professor - paid me one of the finest complements I've ever received - he said I had one of the biggest vocubularies of anyone he ever met.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll treat myself to a Channukah present this year.