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RR 2000/17 Encarta (R) World English Dictionary Editor-in-chief Kathy Rooney Bloomsbury London 1999 xxxii + 2173 pp. ISBN 0 7475 4371 2
L30.00
Keywords Language, United Kingdom
"Hype ... 1.PUBLICITY greatly exaggerated publicity intended to excite public interest in something such as a film or theatrical production..." or a dictionary? Perhaps that is rather unfair, but this new dictionary was launched with considerable hoo-hah ("a loud noisy fuss, controversy, or disturbance..."). The dictionary war is well and truly resumed with a frontal assault by a very heavyweight contender, or, in the more military metaphor, a dreadnought ("... a heavily armed battleship whose main guns are all of the same calibre ... "). In their commercial and lexicographic fields the rival navies of Microsoft/ Bloomsbury and Oxford slug it out ("US [sic] to fight to a conclusion..."; in the UK I have used the expression for many years, more with the meaning of a bruising, heavyweight fight), Encarta v. New Oxford (Pearsall, 1998). One is backed by the most prestigious dictionary publishing name in the English-- speaking world, the other by Microsoft: a usurper, competitor or however it is to be viewed. I had just got used to and really grown to admire the New Oxford (but still keeping my Chambers (1993) to hand, just in case), certainly as the best of the new generation English language/encyclopaedic dictionaries; now Encarta has arrived, complete with some very brash and aggressive press releases (even a pen carrying the definition of "doodle" - as if busy editors had time for such frivolities), and I need to compare it very carefully with its competitors.
Until both have been used against one another for some time, it is difficult to reach clear conclusions. And there is historical, even emotional, baggage: I have used mainly Oxford dictionaries for all my educational and working life and am as conservative in such matters as the rest of the human race, so it would take pretty compelling reasons to make me change my allegiances. Still, Chambers (1993 still the best) got in there quite a few years ago, especially during my crossword puzzle phase, and has remained my major alternative to Oxford as a language dictionary, particularly because of its wide and detailed coverage. I...