Paper Dictionaries

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Some years back, I used an old (Merriam Webster?) dictionary that described an aardvark as, "a nocturnal, burrowing animal with large ears, a long tubular snout and an heavy tail that eats ants."
I was impressed that the aardvark tail ate ants.

Haha, that was my first thought too when I read that sentence just now. Just another example of how important phrasing and word order are.

 

[oggbashan]

...
I'm currently studying to become a computer programmer and program a lot in my free time. Mostly high-level languages like C# and Java, but I happen to have a little bit of experience with Assembly, which is about as low a level as I have ever worked with. A computer like that sounds like an interesting challenge. I figure programming was really different (and arguably harder) in the early days.

Different? Yes.

Harder? Probably not. There were severe limitations on what you could do.

But - machine code on the IBM 1401 was not transferrable to another computer, not even an IBM computer. When the mainframe was upgraded your knowledge of machine code was obsolete and you start again.

The working life of a machine code programmer was about five years until they had to start again.

Edited to add:

Sorting/selecting punch card data sets for particular characteristics was antediluvian. You pulled a board out of the back of the sorting machine, and using wires with plugs on each end you specified which column you wanted to select by e.g. column 60 equals 5 AND column 61 equals 8 AND column 50 not equal to 3 - all hard wired. The next sort? Rip all the wires out and start again.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Different? Yes.

Harder? Probably not. There were severe limitations on what you could do.

But - machine code on the IBM 1401 was not transferrable to another computer, not even an IBM computer. When the mainframe was upgraded your knowledge of machine code was obsolete and you start again.

The working life of a machine code programmer was about five years until they had to start again.

Edited to add:

Sorting/selecting punch card data sets for particular characteristics was antediluvian. You pulled a board out of the back of the sorting machine, and using wires with plugs on each end you specified which column you wanted to select by e.g. column 60 equals 5 AND column 61 equals 8 AND column 50 not equal to 3 - all hard wired. The next sort? Rip all the wires out and start again.

That certainly sounds like a lot of work. I'm glad things have changed over time. Like I said, it would be fun to play with such a machine for a while, but to actually work with it every day...

 

[glynndah]

I had a very small leatherbound dictionary about 1x1x2 which I gave to a fellow Litster who collected such wondrous things. He appreciated it so much more than I did.

I also have several large dictionaries which come in very handy when playing "Dictionary" with friends.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Sorting/selecting punch card data sets for particular characteristics was antediluvian. You pulled a board out of the back of the sorting machine, and using wires with plugs on each end you specified which column you wanted to select by e.g. column 60 equals 5 AND column 61 equals 8 AND column 50 not equal to 3 - all hard wired. The next sort? Rip all the wires out and start again.

I learned to read on punch cards. (Not reading machine codes; my parents wrote my reading words on old punch cards.) Fond memories.

 

[49greg]

I have a little(ish) Websters pocket dictionary. Well It might fit in a cargo pocket on my cargo shorts. My other two are much bigger and collect dust.

I keep it next to the couch that I sit on while clicking away at my laptop. Sometimes I want to check spelling on a word my word processor doesn't understand. Other times I want to check a meaning.

Since I grew up with paper dictionaries I like to keep one at hand, I suppose that if I had been born a generation later I wouldn't.

Lately I've been getting the urge to buy an Oxford American Dictionary, if they still make them.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

C'mon! When was the last time you did math with pencil and paper? 1978?

 

[TxRad]

C'mon! When was the last time you did math with pencil and paper? 1978?

Yesterday, as a matter of fact.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Yesterday, as a matter of fact.

Lol. I do so regularly as well, even though I'm in the younger generation (I'm in my early 20s). If I happen to have a piece of paper nearby and am writing already, it's not too hard to just do it by hand. Sometimes even faster than getting out my phone or a calculator. Although I only do simple stuff like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. And only if it's not too much work. If you got a lot of numbers or complex operations then it's usually a lot faster to just grab a calculator. But doing less complicated stuff by hand or in your head is a pretty good exercise to keep your mind sharp.

 

[oggbashan]

I had a very small leatherbound dictionary about 1x1x2 which I gave to a fellow Litster who collected such wondrous things. He appreciated it so much more than I did.

I also have several large dictionaries which come in very handy when playing "Dictionary" with friends.

I have a couple of very small books - miniatures. Del Prado produced a whole set of miniature classics. I have about twenty. I take one when I'm going for a hospital or doctor's appointment. I can read it and shove it in a pocket. If I lose it I'm not concerned. I have a full size version at home and probably on my e-reader.

The miniature dictionaries or bibles are not very useful. The print of the bibles is so small that you need a magnifying glass. The dictionaries have enough entries for a younger schoolchild but are inadequate for any reasonably literate adult. They are collectors pieces, not really books.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Yesterday, as a matter of fact.

Lol. I do so regularly as well

Me too, not to keep my mind sharp - I find it works better for me if I pretend I don't know anything about it and then my date usually gets his wallet out However I scribble down my household spending in my diary and add it up quickly every week so I can keep track of how extravagant I am

Although I admit that I use a spreadsheet to subtract the demmed total from my income

 

[NaokoSmith]

When I managed to cull 1000 books from my collection and sell some off, giving the remainder to Oxfam, Piglet insisted on keeping an old dictionary back. I'm quite sure she never uses it, as her spelling is dreadful. Although her spelling has got better, but I think that's because she has learned to refer to the lexicon of Mum's brain. I think she just found this large hefty volume with its strings of words attractive.

 

[SamScribble]

C'mon! When was the last time you did math with pencil and paper? 1978?

Even in his late eighties, my father could add faster in his head than a shop assistant could manage with a cash register. I remember a wee encounter when Father – probably about 87 at the time – challenged a young shop assistant with fast fingers.

‘I think that you may have made a mistake,’ he said.

‘Not me,’ she said. ‘It’s the machine. It doesn’t make mistakes.’

‘Then maybe you accidentally hit the wrong buttons,’ Father suggested. ‘Try doing it without the machine.’

The shop assistant hesitated … but then wrote down the five individual prices and spent what felt like a hour adding them manually. ‘Oh, no. You’re right. The machine got it wrong,’ she said.