Modern Dictionary Hacks
There are several options for modern dictionaries that exist perpetually on your sidebar so that all you have to do is download a plug-in for your browser and you have an immediate dictionary at your mouse’s fingertips:
(1) Safari Browser- Live Dictionary which becomes a transparent part of Safari and offers a wide array of dictionaries for technical terms, general language, and bilingual usage.
(2) Firefox Browser- Dictionary Search will show the definition to a word you highlight on any website- how cool is that??
(3) Firefox Browser- Dict similarly looks up definitions by highlighting and right clicking on a word.
(4) Internet Explorer- Dictionary.com actually offers a sidebar toolbar for IE where you type in the word you need defined. Simple!
My First Real Dictionary
I got my first dictionary when I was three years old and could barely lift it myself. I still have it (although it is now dilapidated) and it smells a little musty and I love touching the soft pages that don’t crinkle and feel as if they’re coated in a light powder. My grandmother taught dyslexic children to hone their reading skills and I learned phonics at an early age. We lived in the country and the selection of books that are interesting to a child was limited to the Nancy Drew series (which I read by age five). I accomplished this without my grandmother knowing, rather with my father’s encouragement.
Most children ask “what does ‘anarchy’ mean? What does ‘exhume’ mean, daddy?” My father’s answer was consistently “go look it up.” We thought he was being mean, especially when we were told that before we could read, but later in life I realize that he persisted so that I would learn to rely on my own tools as well as be able to commit words to memory having sought them out myself.
Why I Use a Dictionary Every Day
I still use the dictionary every day and not for sentimental reasons. I know what you’re saying, “Lani, you already know every word in the English language.” Or perhaps you’re saying “Lani, I don’t really understand what the hell this has to do with my business!” Listen, as bloggers (or hell, even just a professional), we interact with written and spoken word daily and regardless of our vocabularies being active or passive, we must never ignore words we can’t define (meaning if we hear or read a word we don’t know, we should look it up and learn it).
My default dictionary has been dictionary.com for some time now (although I still cherish the ratty Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary with the unraveling cover and the word “liar” underlined because of the time I got in trouble for fibbing to dad and my punishment was writing the definition of the word 100 times) but it’s time I got hip to an inter-browser dictionary!
And here’s a bonus Dadism for you, “do you know where you can find sympathy?” He would ask when we pointed out a boo boo that already stopped bleeding. “In the dictionary between sh!t and syphilis” (to which a six year old asks, “what’s syphilis?” to be told (say it with me now) “go look it up.”). Classic. Thanks dad for always making me look up words, even if they were sexually transmitted diseases- I’m a stronger thinker because of you!
