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New Dictionary Test Word: "Aa."
Nov. 22nd, 2009 01:45 pmYesterday, while playing Quiddler, someone used the word aa, which several people did not know. The other people who did know it knew it because of games where knowing short words like that is helpful. I talked people out of challenging the use of this word because I learned in a survey physical geography class that it is the pointy kind of lava, as opposed to the smooth kind, pahoehoe (which sounded familiar to at least one other person even though it is of little use for the kinds of games that teach you words like aa, but then he had been to Hawaii).
Out of curiosity, our hostess looked up the word in her dictionary later, and it wasn't there. I don't remember what dictionary it was, but it was a hard cover dictionary of respectable size with the word "Riverside" in the title. One guest speculated it was some sort of religious text.
The next day, out of curiosity, I checked several books I have at home:
The American Heritage Dictionary, based on the new Second College Edition, 1983. In my mind, this is the book that Robin thinks is the best paperback dictionary ever but which never once has failed to disappoint me. I expected the word to be missing and it is. The entries go from a- to aardvark.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974. This is the paperback dictionary I got to replace the previous one in the bedroom, although Robin thinks dictionaries with Webster in the title are terrible. I expected the word to be present, but it wasn't. It goes from a to AA.
That really surprised me. How could a word I remember from an introductory college class not be in a normal dictionary? But now I see that my replacement dictionary is not a college dictionary, and I have found in the past that college dictionaries are more likely to have the sorts of words I want to look up than other dictionaries are.
Geomorphology of the Earth, Karl W. Butzer, 1976. This is the introductory text of which I'd spoken. "The rough, jagged lavas associated with violent eruptions are less fluid and solidify at higher temperatures than basic lavas." No terms at all.
Perhaps my professor or TA was pleased with himself that he knew some terms for these from the Hawaiian, and they aren't, in fact, English terms at all. Like all those Eskimo words for snow.
The Random House College Dictionary, revised edition, 1984. This is the regular hard-copy dictionary I go to when I'm willing to get up out of my chair. I would have expected it to have the word before I had looked into my geology book, and it does. Between A-1 and AA is aa, "basaltic lava having a rough surface" (from the Hawaiian).
Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, based on the second edition of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1996. This is an unabridged dictionary I got on clearance for those times when even my regular dictionary doesn't have the word I need. I expected aa to be there and it was. Also between A-1 and AA, "basaltic lava having a rough surface. Also a'a. Cf. pahoehoe." (from the Hawaiian)
The Penguin Pocket English Dictionary, 2004 - I got this small book in England so I could look up obvious easy words I found in books written by British people. All my other dictionaries are really of American English, though they don't say so. This being a small book from a country with probably no volcanoes, I was guessing aa wouldn't be there and it wasn't. It goes directly from a to AA.
My previous test word for dictionaries was macabre, but I'm afraid that since the radio show from which I learned this word became popular, all the dictionaries started picking it up. I can't test that theory at home because I only have ever bought dictionaries that included that word.
Still, a good test word can't be in all dictionaries, so it can't be too common of a word. It can't be in no dictionaries, but it needn't be too obscure (when I'm reading old books full of archaic words, I try to get the kind with lots of notes already in them so I don't have to look up all the words). Since I learned it in an intro class, aa doesn't seem too obscure to me.
Now that I have a proper measuring tool, I may have to replace my paperback dictionaries again. I like to have one in the bedroom for when I'm reading and one in the living room for when we're watching movies or TV.
Note: in case you're wondering, aa is pronounced "AH-ah," which my professor said might be the sort of sound you would make if you were walking on this in your bare feet.
Out of curiosity, our hostess looked up the word in her dictionary later, and it wasn't there. I don't remember what dictionary it was, but it was a hard cover dictionary of respectable size with the word "Riverside" in the title. One guest speculated it was some sort of religious text.
The next day, out of curiosity, I checked several books I have at home:
The American Heritage Dictionary, based on the new Second College Edition, 1983. In my mind, this is the book that Robin thinks is the best paperback dictionary ever but which never once has failed to disappoint me. I expected the word to be missing and it is. The entries go from a- to aardvark.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974. This is the paperback dictionary I got to replace the previous one in the bedroom, although Robin thinks dictionaries with Webster in the title are terrible. I expected the word to be present, but it wasn't. It goes from a to AA.
That really surprised me. How could a word I remember from an introductory college class not be in a normal dictionary? But now I see that my replacement dictionary is not a college dictionary, and I have found in the past that college dictionaries are more likely to have the sorts of words I want to look up than other dictionaries are.
Geomorphology of the Earth, Karl W. Butzer, 1976. This is the introductory text of which I'd spoken. "The rough, jagged lavas associated with violent eruptions are less fluid and solidify at higher temperatures than basic lavas." No terms at all.
Perhaps my professor or TA was pleased with himself that he knew some terms for these from the Hawaiian, and they aren't, in fact, English terms at all. Like all those Eskimo words for snow.
The Random House College Dictionary, revised edition, 1984. This is the regular hard-copy dictionary I go to when I'm willing to get up out of my chair. I would have expected it to have the word before I had looked into my geology book, and it does. Between A-1 and AA is aa, "basaltic lava having a rough surface" (from the Hawaiian).
Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, based on the second edition of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1996. This is an unabridged dictionary I got on clearance for those times when even my regular dictionary doesn't have the word I need. I expected aa to be there and it was. Also between A-1 and AA, "basaltic lava having a rough surface. Also a'a. Cf. pahoehoe." (from the Hawaiian)
The Penguin Pocket English Dictionary, 2004 - I got this small book in England so I could look up obvious easy words I found in books written by British people. All my other dictionaries are really of American English, though they don't say so. This being a small book from a country with probably no volcanoes, I was guessing aa wouldn't be there and it wasn't. It goes directly from a to AA.
My previous test word for dictionaries was macabre, but I'm afraid that since the radio show from which I learned this word became popular, all the dictionaries started picking it up. I can't test that theory at home because I only have ever bought dictionaries that included that word.
Still, a good test word can't be in all dictionaries, so it can't be too common of a word. It can't be in no dictionaries, but it needn't be too obscure (when I'm reading old books full of archaic words, I try to get the kind with lots of notes already in them so I don't have to look up all the words). Since I learned it in an intro class, aa doesn't seem too obscure to me.
Now that I have a proper measuring tool, I may have to replace my paperback dictionaries again. I like to have one in the bedroom for when I'm reading and one in the living room for when we're watching movies or TV.
Note: in case you're wondering, aa is pronounced "AH-ah," which my professor said might be the sort of sound you would make if you were walking on this in your bare feet.