mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (10/05/83)
I once read a description of a dictionary being written. Hundreds
of scholars sat at their desks reading books, newspapers, poetry,
anything on the chance of finding a new meaning for an old word or
(much rarer) a new word. They were surrounded by little scraps of
paper with various word usages so these could be included in the
lists of word meanings for the new dictionary.
But what about the net? Some fraction of the interesting writing
in the world now goes on via arpanet, usenet, or other nets. These
dictionary writers will never get a chance to see all these
new words and new meanings. No wonder Webster's had the wrong
meaning of hacker--the true meaning may have never appeared in
printed form (not counting laser printers).
This will be a growing problem, what with electronic publishing and
electronic journals. Once publishing is ALL electronic writing
dictionaries will be easier, at least as far as finding new words
go. Just 'grep -v *' for new words. But meanwhile we have a
transition period in which the dictionary based on only print sources
is out of date.
(One solution is the "Hacker's Dictionary", due out in true book
form (not just ftp'able file) any day now.)
(Another solution is to declare that usenet, etc. are more akin to
personal mail, which the dictionary authors never have looked at;
or to declare that dictionary authors care only about works with
some literary merit, for which usenet, etc. do not qualify.)
--
spoken: mark weiser
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!mark
CSNet: mark@umcp-cs
ARPA: mark.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay