Page 1 of 1

Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:49 pm
by Harry Whitehouse
I see in The Times today that the Oxford Dictionary of English is one of the country's most shoplifted books.

Impecunious Countdown fans to blame?

Is "shoplifted" in the ODE? Just putting my poacher's jacket on and popping down to WHSmith. I'll be able to look it up when I get back.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:37 pm
by Ben Hunter
I'm always tempted to nick the OED too. It's worth so much and I want one so badly, yet I never want to part with £20 or £30 to get my hands on one because it seems like too much of a luxury.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:28 pm
by Ian Fitzpatrick
I bought SWMBO one two Christmas' running (OED then NODE), I gave up trying to keep up to date with the programme after the complaints and funny looks.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:19 pm
by Hannah O
I do want to get my hands on the holy book of Countdown! It's the NODE that's currently used, is it?

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:22 pm
by Gary Male
Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd Edition, revised. If you buy it new from any reputable bookseller you'll get the right dictionary for sure..

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:26 pm
by Hannah O
Ah, right! Five finger discounts do seem to be the way to go though when it comes to expensive books :P

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:31 pm
by Daniel O'Dowd
I'm very tempted to buy one as an investment on the prize of winning the whole series of Countdown, when I will got on, (sic) because the wonderful brain in my head has a memory like a sponge. :D

Re: Self-help

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:50 pm
by Gary Male
You've only got to look at someone like Mark Tournoff to see the benefits of having an ODE of your own, to be able to make notes in the margin etc, to put some serious study in. That was an investment and a half which paid off in spades.

If you feel uncomfortable stealing the book, then why not haggle with the bookseller? You might get told to stick it up your arse, but then again there's some people on here that might like that. Allegedly.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:10 pm
by Martin Gardner
Gary Male wrote:You've only got to look at someone like Mark Tournoff to see the benefits of having an ODE of your own, to be able to make notes in the margin etc, to put some serious study in. That was an investment and a half which paid off in spades.

If you feel uncomfortable stealing the book, then why not haggle with the bookseller? You might get told to stick it up your arse, but then again there's some people on here that might like that. Allegedly.
LOL

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:34 pm
by Rosemary Roberts
Hannah O wrote:Ah, right! Five finger discounts do seem to be the way to go though when it comes to expensive books :P
Could be worse - the OED used to cost an arm and a leg.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:55 pm
by Julie T
Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Hannah O wrote:Ah, right! Five finger discounts do seem to be the way to go though when it comes to expensive books :P
Could be worse - the OED used to cost an arm and a leg.
LOL! :lol:

I got mine from Amazon a couple of years ago. They're currently selling it for £22.75:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... 965&sr=1-2

There is always the worry though, that since they last revised it in 2005, they might decide to do a new edition soon.
I don't know this, just pointing out Sod's Law.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:49 pm
by Daniel O'Dowd
Julie T wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Hannah O wrote:Ah, right! Five finger discounts do seem to be the way to go though when it comes to expensive books :P
Could be worse - the OED used to cost an arm and a leg.
LOL! :lol:

I got mine from Amazon a couple of years ago. They're currently selling it for £22.75:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... 965&sr=1-2

There is always the worry though, that since they last revised it in 2005, they might decide to do a new edition soon.
I don't know this, just pointing out Sod's Law.
Ironically I was going to post about this very link!

There is a link below that page in Amazon which says 'Hardcover 2RevEd' and I'm wondering if this is the 2nd edition that is used in the show or not? It has a different cover to the one I've seen but thought I should clarify before I shell out on something wrong.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:00 pm
by Julie T
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:
Ironically I was going to post about this very link!

There is a link below that page in Amazon which says 'Hardcover 2RevEd' and I'm wondering if this is the 2nd edition that is used in the show or not? It has a different cover to the one I've seen but thought I should clarify before I shell out on something wrong.
I'm fairly sure it's still the correct one, although you're right in that the cover has changed slightly.
If the dictionary is quoted on here, it's abbreviated to ODE2r, i.e 2nd edition revised.
So I can't see how the content will be any different despite the cover.
I'd make sure someone else agrees with me first before buying, though.

[Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for anyone buying the wrong dictionary. :? :mrgreen: ]

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:38 pm
by Rosemary Roberts
Julie T wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:Could be worse - the OED used to cost an arm and a leg.
They're currently selling it for £22.75
I was thinking of the full 20-odd volume OED, which still costs hundreds of pounds for real and almost £200 on CD-ROM.
I would really like to have it the disc version, and as a language professional I could set it off against tax, but £200 is four times what I would pay! :(

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:44 pm
by Jason Larsen
Wow-wee!

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:49 pm
by Julie T
Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Julie T wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:Could be worse - the OED used to cost an arm and a leg.
They're currently selling it for £22.75
I was thinking of the full 20-odd volume OED, which still costs hundreds of pounds for real and almost £200 on CD-ROM.
I would really like to have it the disc version, and as a language professional I could set it off against tax, but £200 is four times what I would pay! :(
Confusion between ODE and OED there, sorry! :oops:

I think anyone who managed to shoplift the OED (in multi volume book form) possibly deserves it! 8-)
(Not that I'm advocating theft! ;) )

Re: Self-help

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:54 pm
by Gary Male
Far simpler to go to your local library's website, follow the links to the reference books, and enter your library card number and get full access to the OED I'd have thought. It does lack the Hollywood-style glamour of stealing a, er, dictionary, though. Unless it's OEDceans 14, which would rock.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:34 am
by Daniel O'Dowd
There is one difference in those amazon links you can see in the thread: well, one. the ODE2r http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... ef=ed_oe_h
is from 2003.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... 634&sr=8-2

This is from 2005.

Which is used on the show? :)

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:36 am
by Jon O'Neill
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:There is one difference in those amazon links you can see in the thread: well, one. the ODE2r http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... ef=ed_oe_h
is from 2003.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictiona ... 634&sr=8-2

This is from 2005.

Which is used on the show? :)
The 2nd edition was published in 2003. The 2nd edition, revised, was published in 2005. I would threfore hazard a guess that the 2003 page is lying to you, and that it is the plain old 2nd edition.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:46 am
by Daniel O'Dowd
Yeah I can agree with your thinking on that. Working backward it also logics out because that 2005 one is the only one I find in my local bookstore. =)

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:40 am
by Julie T
Jono's new signature:
"[NB If my typing suddenly becomes lower-case and typo-ridden, apologies. It means I have a squirming penis on my lap]"

Didn't know that you found Daniel's posts so exciting! :lol:
Wonder what Clare thinks of your version of her sig? :mrgreen:

"Be who you are and say what you feel because nobody gives a toss."

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:51 am
by Rosemary Roberts
Julie T wrote:Confusion between ODE and OED there, sorry! :oops:
The confusion was mine, and not for the first time. A few years ago, when there was much talk on Countdown about the smart new dictionary they were changing to, I tried to buy it from Amazon, but I entered the wrong search string and ended up with the two-volume SOED. Which is a nice dictionary and comes with a CD but is not much use for Countdown.
I do have the two-volume miniaturized OED, which is useful but hard on the eyes. That is not really shopliftable either, though. My mother bought it secondhand and schlepped it over to Germany in two suitcases. Sooner her than me!

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:22 am
by Phil Reynolds
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:Working backward it also logics out
You evidently adhere to the principle that any noun can be verbed.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:44 am
by Daniel O'Dowd
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:Working backward it also logics out
You evidently adhere to the principle that any noun can be verbed.
You mean verbised? (I'm serious: I remember hearing this construction more than once.)

Nah, I'm like OED: I'm a Dan of common word usage :lol: Again, I've heard this being used before, and while I have every appreciation for the preservation of proper English grammar, some things will always erode in to new forms and change :)

And that's a very nice point Julie! But Jono doesn't know what I look like (and that until my hairdresser temporarily butchered me this morning, I was the sexiest person here ;) ) so it can't possibly apply to me or my post. Pun on dictionary is my vote.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:57 am
by Kai Laddiman
Julie T wrote:Jono's new signature:
"[NB If my typing suddenly becomes lower-case and typo-ridden, apologies. It means I have a squirming penis on my lap]"
His?

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:00 am
by Phil Reynolds
Kai Laddiman wrote:
Julie T wrote:Jono's new signature:
"[NB If my typing suddenly becomes lower-case and typo-ridden, apologies. It means I have a squirming penis on my lap]"
His?
I'd already PM'd Jono with a similar query.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:30 pm
by Jon O'Neill
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:
Julie T wrote:Jono's new signature:
"[NB If my typing suddenly becomes lower-case and typo-ridden, apologies. It means I have a squirming penis on my lap]"
His?
I'd already PM'd Jono with a similar query.
You can talk about queeries! Hahaha! I'm so funny and good at Countdown that it's not even funny. But it also is.

Re: Self-help

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:09 pm
by Charlie Reams
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:Working backward it also logics out
You evidently adhere to the principle that any noun can be verbed.
Warning: Verbing weirds language.