Re: Is there a dictionary for abbreviations like "WTF"?
On Feb 18, Dr. Andreas Wehler wrote
> I would like to resolve these many abbreviations today, as
> So, is there any appropriate dictionary? Thanks.
J. H. M. Dassen gave several URL's which should answer your questions,
but the start of your subject line reminded me of something else that
I am interested in -- a ``webster'' like dictionary that I could
install on my linux box. I think that ``webster'' might come with
NeXT machines, but it has been available at every university at which
I have had a UNIX account, and I find myself telnetting into my
university account several times per day, specifically to make use of
it. (Yes, I have a real paper and ink dictionary, and I usually
choose to use it when I am reading a book, but I want an online
dictionary when I am typing or reading mail.) Several linux
dictionary options come to mind.
WWW -- I believe that there are www dictionary sites available, but I
want a dictionary installed on my machine that I can use whether or
not I am connected to the net.
Commercial UNIX dictionaries -- I recently saw a c.o.l.a article
announcing the availability of a ``webster''-like American Heritage
dictionary for linux, but the price was a bit steep. (I think it was
$89 US for a single user license.)
DOS or Windows dictionary, converted for linux -- I would spend $20 -
$30 US for such a dictionary on CDROM if I could break the format of
the data file and write my own linux viewer for it. (This would
probably be a violation of the letter of the license, but not the
spirit, as I would only use the "linux version" installed one single
user machine.)
GNU Free Dictionary project -- What ever happened to this?
Gutenberg Project dictionary -- I just noticed that the Gutenberg
Project released a 1919 Webster dictionary last year, both as an ASCII
flat file, and in html format. That is a little old (necessitated by
copyright concerns) but it would serve nearly all my purposes (and add
some historical flavor to boot). I believe that it is 40 MB
uncompressed, and I plan on downloading it shortly. Has anyone else
had a look at it? While an html version would be usable, I would
like to see a dictionary specific browser/viewer built for it. It is
not appropriate to wrap up all the works of the Gutenberg Project as
debian packages, but it might be appropriate to do so with a dictionary
and thesaurus. (They have also released a version of Roget's
Thesaurus.) At the very least, a contrib package could be built
containing viewers (and possible even ``webster''-like client and
server) and including instructions for downloading the data files. Is
any one else interested in this?
Kirk Hilliard
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