Depends on how you define "is"
What's in a word? Often, how marketers define a word, and how consumers experience its meaning, are two very different things.
Consider my dictionary, the Random House Webster's College Dictionary, published in April 2000 and proclaiming on its cover, quite presciently, "Includes new words for 2001." I loved my previous reference, a paperback copy of the Oxford American Dictionary, but the spine literally cracked in two and besides, I needed authoritative spellings for contemporary neologisms, such as "website" (or is it "Web site"?).
But what makes the Random House a "college" dictionary as opposed to an ordinary dictionary? Does it have more words? More esoteric words? A guide to making the beer-can pyramid?
As far as I can tell, it is exactly like any other dictionary -- except for one thing. I bought the book just four years ago and already the pages are turning yellow. Now, this is a reference book, and one would think that, by design, a reference book should be printed to last. Not so, I guess. Apparently, a "college" dictionary is a book with a short shelf-life, one designed to last, oh, I don't know, perhaps four years or so.
By contrast, there's Gotham: A History of New York to 1898
, a colossal boat-anchor of a book that I bought at about the same time as the dictionary; its pages are as snowy white as the day I first opened it and started to read. (I'm almost finished, I swear.) Gotham is published by Oxford University Press, and the good folk across the pond have done their customers the courtesy of printing the book on acid-free (or at least low-acid or buffered) paper.
What does "upgrade" mean to you? You might think it means valuable new features and services. Well, to the people who produce the accounting software I use to manage my business, it means "shakedown." They've targeted numerous messages my way warning me that they will no longer offer any tech support for the version I bought a long, long time ago, way back in . . . . 2002. I could either "upgrade" to the 2005 iteration, or take my chances on a software that will not be supported by its manufacturer. None of the allegedly "new" features have any meaning for me whatsoever.
Nice. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about this certain software provider. And by "warm and fuzzy" I mean -- well, you can guess what I mean.
Consider my dictionary, the Random House Webster's College Dictionary, published in April 2000 and proclaiming on its cover, quite presciently, "Includes new words for 2001." I loved my previous reference, a paperback copy of the Oxford American Dictionary, but the spine literally cracked in two and besides, I needed authoritative spellings for contemporary neologisms, such as "website" (or is it "Web site"?).
But what makes the Random House a "college" dictionary as opposed to an ordinary dictionary? Does it have more words? More esoteric words? A guide to making the beer-can pyramid?
As far as I can tell, it is exactly like any other dictionary -- except for one thing. I bought the book just four years ago and already the pages are turning yellow. Now, this is a reference book, and one would think that, by design, a reference book should be printed to last. Not so, I guess. Apparently, a "college" dictionary is a book with a short shelf-life, one designed to last, oh, I don't know, perhaps four years or so.
By contrast, there's Gotham: A History of New York to 1898
, a colossal boat-anchor of a book that I bought at about the same time as the dictionary; its pages are as snowy white as the day I first opened it and started to read. (I'm almost finished, I swear.) Gotham is published by Oxford University Press, and the good folk across the pond have done their customers the courtesy of printing the book on acid-free (or at least low-acid or buffered) paper.What does "upgrade" mean to you? You might think it means valuable new features and services. Well, to the people who produce the accounting software I use to manage my business, it means "shakedown." They've targeted numerous messages my way warning me that they will no longer offer any tech support for the version I bought a long, long time ago, way back in . . . . 2002. I could either "upgrade" to the 2005 iteration, or take my chances on a software that will not be supported by its manufacturer. None of the allegedly "new" features have any meaning for me whatsoever.
Nice. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about this certain software provider. And by "warm and fuzzy" I mean -- well, you can guess what I mean.
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