Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!chalmers.se!cs.chalmers.se!jeffrey
From: jeffrey@cs.chalmers.se (Alan Jeffrey)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Public Domain Dictionary
Message-ID: <4649@undis.cs.chalmers.se>
Date: 2 Jun 91 13:23:18 GMT
Organization: Dept. of CS, Chalmers, Sweden
Lines: 28

In article <1991May31.163736.27167@imagen.com> m.v.s. ramananth writes:
>There seems to be a serious need for a public domain dictionary.
>
>Since dictionary publishers are unlikely to make their materials
>available for free, I propose that we net folks create our own.

Unfortunately, there's a reason why dictionaries cost money and take a
looong time to produce, and that is that they're an absolute pain to
edit.  Some of the most important features of a dictionary are
consistency of notation and pronunciation, accurate cross-referencing,
decisions about slang, foreign words, UK English vs US English vs
Canadian English vs Australian English vs NZ English vs..., inclusion
or exclusion of technical words, hyphenation, and so on and so on and
so on and...

Given the amount of highly skilled effort needed to produce a decent
dictionary, the net hasn't got a hope.  What would be nice is a
standard dictionary (Chambers maybe) in a decent on-line version.  The
OED is around, but that's in a proprietary CD-ROM format.  And a good
hyphenation dictionary would be nice too (who knows, we might even be
able to build a UK hyphenation table (oblig. TeX reference)).

Cheers,

Alan.
-- 
Alan Jeffrey         Tel: +46 31 72 10 98         jeffrey@cs.chalmers.se
Department of Computer Sciences, Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden