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Aftersleep Books
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The American Heritage Dictionary of the English LaThe following report compares books using the SERCount Rating (base on the result count from the search engine). |
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Aftersleep Books - 2005-06-20 07:00:00 | © Copyright 2004 - www.aftersleep.com () | sitemap | top |
The dictionary's good points are plainly visible. It has an easy-on-the eyes arrangement. There are many good illustrative photographs. There are brief biographical and geographical entries interspersed among the general entries.
Now for the drawbacks. First: Where are the cuss words? That might seem like an odd criticism, but slang and vulgar words ARE a part of the English language--a part which, furthermore, often turns up in works of literature. I see no justification for leaving out the notorious "f-word" and its colorful brethren.
The dictionary is also oddly inconsistent in noting that some "acceptable" words also have uses as vulgar slang. Yes, the compilers note that "bitch" has a rude meaning in addition to its proper definition. But they fail to provide similar data for many comparable terms.
I also noted another curious flaw: the definitions of certain words derived from people's names (Kafkaesque, Wagnerian, etc.) are not given at all. These words are just tacked on as undefined appendages to the brief biographical entries. So if someone tells you that their life is a Kafkaesque nightmare and you don't know what they mean, this dictionary will be useless to you.
I just recently purchased this dictionary, but my early inspection of the product has certainly left me with some doubts. Hopefully the next edition will correct these problems, and other flaws that my fellow users discover.