dant@tekla.tek.com (Dan Tilque;1893;92-789;LP=A;60aB) (10/31/86)
A recent newspaper article said that the French Academy has just come out with a new dictionary, its first in about 50 years. This is the official definition of the French lexicon, and many agencies and organizations require all words used in reports and papers to be in this dictionary. This new edition has about 45,000 words (about 10,000 more than the last). While this is more than adequate for most use (although it probably doesn't have such necessary words as *le hotdog* (or is it *l'hotdog*?) :-), I wonder how highly technical subjects are discussed using this limited vocabulary. In the past 50 years, English has probably added far more than 10,000 new technical terms. While most of these are not in common use, many subjects could not be discussed without these words. (Try talking about Quantum Mechanics without using such words as quark or hadron.) I don't understand how the Academy could come up with only 10,000 new words. And how do those French agencies, which are resticted to using the official French dictionary, discuss the latest advances in computer science or physics. (This was especially true before this new dictionary.) Dan Tilque dant@tekla.tek.com "This is a bust!" she yelled, as she ripped open her coat, boldly displaying her ample authority. --R. J. Wilcek From _Son_of_"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"_