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Oxford Dictionary Considers Going Online Only
Kilrah_il writes "Oxford University Press has confirmed that they are considering offering their next version of the Oxford English Dictionary as an online version only, with no option for a hardcopy. The 20-volume set, whose last edition (2nd) was published in 1989, weighs 145 pounds (65kg) and costs about $1,165. It is considered the 'accepted authority on the meaning and history of words.' In 2000, the dictionary was offered online for $295 a year and has been getting 2 million hits a month from subscribers. The printed version, on the other hand, has sales of only 30,000. Work is now progressing on the 3rd edition, but it's still a decade or more away from completion. Oxford University Press is considering going online-only with the next edition of their flagship product, but not for other products such as their best-selling Advanced Learner's Dictionary. At least for now."
Ok, who is going to use "The accepted authority on all words"? Not me, not you, perhaps a few English majors at a university, but no one else cares. Everyone else can just Google/Wikipedia/UrbanDictionary any word they don't know the definition to. Except for a few English majors no one cares about the etymology of "Napkin" everyone else just knows its what they use to wipe the sour cream off their chin after biting into a burrito.
The only place that needs the OED is universities, and even then its stretching it depending on the number of English majors into that sort of stuff.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Firstly, if I'm going to research something, dictionaries aren't where I'd start from.
Secondly, if there is an obscure secondary meaning that a lot of people don't know about, the only idiot in the equation is the person using the obscure secondary meaning.
This is language we're talking about - if people need a dictionary to understand the obscure secondary meaning - then its not a very good use of the word is it?