dictionary

Can we please stop crowdsourcing the English language?

According to the Collins Dictionary, every word of the following paragraph qualifies as legitimate English:

"That oojamaflip zhooshing up the bang tidy K-pop on the banjolele is amazeballs! It's totally fandabidozi, but I'm just a fanboy who can't play squadoosh myself."

Nine of the words and phrases in the above two sentences come from the list of 86 new words, phrases, and senses (sort of like an additional definition for an existing word) that Collins added to its online dictionary as a result of an exhaustive crowdsourcing effort.

Now here's the mind-blowing part: those 86 new English words were chosen from a massive digital pile of more than 4,000 submissions sent in from the public.… Read more

Easy word lookup

WordWeb Dictionary brings a wealth of definitions directly to your iPhone. For those who love words or just want to make sure they're using the right one, this is a nice addition to your apps, but overall we felt it didn't beat Apple's native application.

WordWeb Dictionary has a well-designed interface, but its settings were a bit hard to find. We had to search a bit to find them hidden under the share button, but this was the only issue we noted during our testing. The settings tab proved useful, though, allowing you to enable and disable … Read more

The 404 1,109: Where we're running low on memory (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary.

- Someone broke into Steve Jobs' home in Palo Alto.

- Hair-raising 4D movie theater chair gives you goosebumps.

- The CNET iPhone 5 rumor roundup.

Bathroom break video: Opting out of Olive Garden's bread bowl.… Read more

The 404 1,101: Where we learn how to archive (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- The view from inside 'The Daily.'

- Facebook has more than 83 million 'fake' users.

- A smartwatch that talks to your iPhone.

35 really terrible words recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary.… Read more

Translate it into Lithuanian with KZod

Do you know which modern Indo-European language preserves the most characteristics of ancient Proto-Indo-European? It's Lithuanian, a unique and complex Baltic language spoken in Lithuania but not many other places. Anyone who needs to translate Lithuanian into any other language, or vice versa, needs KZod Pocket Dictionary, a free dictionary tool that is heavy on the Lithuanian content. But you can also use KZod to build your own dictionary of any kind as well as contribute to other dictionaries via DICT, the dictionary network protocol, as well as mova and SLOWO. It can translate text from other programs and … Read more

How to use the built-in dictionary in iOS 5

One overlooked feature in iOS 5 is the built-in dictionary.

Huh? Yea, we thought the same thing. Apple included a dictionary in iOS 5, allowing users to quickly look up the definition of a word from nearly anywhere in the OS.

To get the definition for a word, simply highlight the word and tap on Define. If Define isn't an option, there should be an arrow on the right side of the pop-up, tap on it, and then press Define. Doing so will launch a dictionary, providing you with a definition, all the while not forcing you to leave … Read more

Use Bible Seeker and ye shall find

Walk into a biblical scholar's study and you'll be greeted by walls full of books: versions, concordances, commentaries, textual analysis, and whole sets of volumes. That's sort of what you get for free with Bible Seeker. It's a free biblical reference tool that includes the King James Version of the Holy Bible, Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, and Notes from the KJV Translators, with many add-on components available. You can open each reference tool independently within Bible Seeker's interface, which makes it easy to search, print, and use these time-tested resources. … Read more

Dictionary spells F-A-I-L

Tray Dictionary is a free desktop dictionary tool based on the Encarta online dictionary. With it you can look up words quickly without having to open an online dictionary site. It also allows quick right-click lookups in Internet Explorer.

We opened Tray Dictionary's Start Menu folder and clicked the program icon to open its System Tray interface, which is anchored by a dictionary icon. Clicking this icon called up a tiny search field for quick lookups. Since we park the Windows taskbar on the right edge of our wide-screen desktop, it covered Tray Dictionary's search button, and we … Read more

The 404 885: Where we weeze the juice (podcast)

"Woot" joins "jeggings," "mankini," "noob," and 400 other new definitions in the 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary published today, but what happened to "glamazon," "hangry," and "retrosexual"?

Along with our suggestions for new slang to be added, we're also warning everyone about a privacy breach called juice-hacking and a virtual hit-man service that charges $10 an hour for DDoS attacks. And we talk about whether it's necessary to reboot or shut down your computer at night.

This, plus a handful of Calls From the Public on today's episode--enjoy!

The 404 Digest for Episode 885

'Woot' is officially a thing, according to Oxford English Dictionary. Beware of juice-hacking. Russians outsource DDoS attacks for $10 per hour. Is it necessary to restart or shutdown your laptop every night? Congratulations to Sir Ron for completing the maze we featured on yesterday's show!

Episode 885 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more