Autism, biopsy, love, consortium, ranch, nuclear-bomb- these are some of the English words concisely explained and defined in different senses in Dzongkha in the first comprehensive and expanded English - Dzongkha dictionary that will be released sometime next month by the Dzongkha Development Authority (DDA).

The 30,000 word dictionary with over 90,000 Dzongkha equivalents, which was developed over more than four years, is described as the first of its kind that fulfills the dictionary criteria.

Researcher Pema Wangdi explained that unlike the available materials, the new dictionary, which is based on the Oxford Popular School Dictionary and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, tries to distinguish different word senses in a series of numbered equivalence. “If not then we have tried to define the English word in its closest Dzongkha equivalent,” he said, adding that this allowed people more choices to pick and choose words to fit their context.

However, the definitions are not strictly restricted to Dzongkha only. The experts point out that for some English words whose equivalence are not found in the Dzongkha vocabulary have been borrowed from Choeked (classical Tibetan text) and other regional dialects such as Tshangla, Bumthap, and many others.

For example, the word ‘gowtshor’ in Brokpa snugly fit the word ‘love’ in English, both in its verb and noun usage. “We have tried to put meaning by using words from other languages that explains the English equivalent beautifully,” he pointed out.

Kharang, kotkin, tshemto, modhuphala (for papaya in Tshangla) are some words incorporated in the dictionary.

But Pema Wangdi explained that only those regional words that follow similar Dzongkha sound system and are easy to spell in Dzongkha have been taken into account “to avoid confusion”.

With over 30,000 words as the main entries, the researchers are convinced that except for cultural specific words, most of the words in the English vocabulary have been incorporated in the new dictionary.

Civil servants, translators, interpreters, and students are the target readers, the authority officials said. Senior reader, Dorji Gyeltshen, said that the sole purpose of the dictionary is to promote Dzongkha language through English. “With this publication people should now be able to use Dzongkha more frequently and in its correct form,” he said.

The dictionary is simple and straightforward, and the spellings simplified, said Pema Wangdi. The headwords, which are the general root words, are arranged in alphabetical order with no phonetics and no grammatical information. Pema Wangdi said that the need was not called for because such facilities are available in the English dictionaries which are found in abundance.

Developed over a series of meetings where the experts deliberated on endless debates and discussions, the dictionary would be provisional and subject to further discussions and changes as per the feedback from the readers. “As soon as we start getting comments from the readers we will start the second edition,” said Dorji Gyeltshen.

The DDA will print about 3,000 copies, which will be distributed to schools and various government departments and sectors, free of cost.

“Google” is now officially a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. Google already is a verb in some other dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most authoritative dictionary of the English language. You can see the OED’s latest editions for June 2006 here, do a control F (find) for the word “Google.”

Google as a verb is defined in the dictionary as;
intr. To use the Google search engine to find information on the Internet. trans. To search for information about (a person or thing) using the Google search engine.

JEWS, Gypsies, gays, feminists and even people from Galicia are up in arms over the latest edition of the authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language, which they say promotes prejudice and racism.

They say that definitions relating to them in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy are outdated and demeaning. Their complaints have created a heated dispute with the compilers of the latest version of the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española — equivalent to the Oxford English Dictionary — who have dismissed the concerns as political correctness gone mad.

The Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities protested against the dictionary’s refusal to withdraw negative references to Judaism, and Pilar Heredia, the president of Yerba- buena, a women’s Gypsy association, told the Spanish daily El País that a definition of gitano (Gypsy) was disgraceful and could encourage racism. Señora Heredia said: “We would like this definition to be removed from the dictionary.”

Homosexual groups have taken offence at a slang reference that means “effeminate, weak man”. Myriam Navas, of the Madrid Gay, Lesbian Transsexual Collective, said: “I don’t like the way that homosexuality is often associated with effeminacy, when everybody knows how diverse the gay world is.” Señora Navas said that the dictionary prided itself on being “clean, correct and splendorous” and yet used “offensive” definitions.

Women’s groups have said that the dictionary should flag sexist words. Eulàlia Lledó, a co-author of the book Of Women and Dictionaries, pointed to ajamonarse, “to become like a ham”, which is used for pregnant women.

The dictionary has also managed to offend Galicians. Francisco Rodríguez, a parliamentary spokesman of the nationalist Galician National Bloc party, has demanded that a “stereotypical and prejudicial” definition be removed.

However, José Antonio Pascual, a Spanish language specialist, defended the dictionary. “We simply photograph the landscape; we don’t create it,” he said. “We seem to have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. Uniformity of language frightens me. We are losing our sense of irony.”

FIGHTING WORDS

Sinagoga (synagogue) A meeting for illicit ends

Gitano (Gypsy) One who practices deceit or who tricks

Marica (ladybird or slang for gay man) Effeminate, weak man

Ajamonarse (to become like a ham) Used to describe how pregnant women increase in size

Gallego (Galician) Dumb, stupid or deaf, in Costa Rica and El Salvador

Now that the bloom is off bling and metro is retro, word lovers searching for the next big thing in pop parlance may find it in a new dictionary charting everything from slang to slurs snubbed previously by leading lexicographers.

From AMWs (actress-model-whatever) to zhing-zhong (cheaply made Asian goods), The Official Dictionary of Unoffi cial English makes words like “blog” seem as cutting edge as a rerun of Murder She Wrote.

“Every word that you learn tweaks your brain,” says Grant Barrett, editor of the dictionary. “Every word that you learn is another vitamin. There’s something pleasant in knowing you’ve acquired the tiniest bit of new knowledge.” In the age of the Internet, dubbing any fragment of language “new” puts wordsmiths on shaky ground.

The newness of Unoffi cial English is in its focus on words that haven’t been documented in leading North American dictionaries, or have acquired new meaning since appearing in those dictionaries.

“You’ll fi nd words you’ve never seen before — even though they’ve been around for decades,” Barrett says in the introduction to the dictionary.

“You’ll find old words with new defi - nitions. You’ll find foreign words tiptoeing into foreign Englishes, sports jargon butting into politics, street slang bouncing out of California, and Spanish moving comfortably into mainstream American English.” It’s a collection of language that deserves more attention.

A thrillionaire, for instance, is a wealthy Richard Branson-type who pursues expensive and dangerous pastimes.

A pudding ring describes facial hair made up of a moustache and goatee.

Sandbox isn’t the playground staple, it’s military slang for a country in the Middle East.

D-girls are junior fi lm industry executives, frankenbites are TV clips edited together to manufacture drama on a reality show and ego ramps are catwalks or stage spurs that extend into or over a concert audience.

Fratmosphere is an environment resembling or affi liated with a college fraternity.

“It’s not a goofy book of wacky words so much as it’s a companion to your everyday dictionary,” says Barrett, who is project editor for the Historical Dictionary of American Slang and editor of the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang.

The most controversial section of Unoffi cial English is titled Colourful Names for Whitey, which comprises racist epithets or nicknames for Caucasian westerners that are unique to various regions around the globe.

A companion section cites derogatory terms used within an ethnic group or race to insult its own members.

“Information, not provocation, was the intent,” says Barrett, noting the lists were included because of their substance.

It quickly becomes evident in scanning the dictionary that widely used Canadian words such as stagette are rarely found or unknown in American conversation and texts.

“Even though there might not be a physical border, the psychological barriers do a fair bit to keep words inside the margin,” says Barrett, a New Yorker.

“We’ll get (the word’s meaning) but we’ll also recognize that it’s not native to us so we’ll keep our hands off, which is usually something Americans aren’t known for.”

To search the meaning of a word is no more than a child’s play as dictionaries reveal it, maybe with a turn of the page or at the click of a computer mouse. But what about painting, drawing, prints and sculpture that anyone might have come across while travelling from Ajanta to Yantra. The dictionary could have hardly given the meaning or tell what it is all about.

To solve this problem, Pratima Sheth came out with an innovative idea, which turned into a ‘ Dictionary of Indian Arts and Artist.’ The dictionary which was released in Chennai recently contains over 1300 entries from Ajanta to Yantra with descriptions of paintings, drawing, prints, sculpture, galleries and institutions, which also include over 300 colour illustration to make things easier for the people.

Brought out by Mapin Publishing, the dictionary is completely focused on the evolution and context of Indian art. It provides a road map for the artist, student, art professional and art lover to discover or advance knowledge on movements, monuments and institutions that represent the creative force of Indian art.

Pratima Sheth is a graduate from J J School of Art, Mumbai. She has participated in a number of group- shows in India and her solo exhibition at Cymroza Art Gallery and Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai and Chez Cyril Stuttgart, Germany. She also had held Retrospective shows in year 2000.

Minneapolis (PRWEB) June 15, 2006 — Ultralingua announced today the release of the new Accio Dictionary for Mac and Windows, a significant innovation in dictionary software.

“Now users will be able to get translations and definitions quickly when reading on a computer, with one simple click,” said Chad Johnson, Ultralingua General Manager. “Users simply point at a word in nearly any application or text window and when they click a ‘hot key,’ a window pops up with translations and definitions from our extensive language databases. The dictionaries even automatically recognize and translate conjugated and irregular word forms.”

The Accio Dictionary for Macintosh and Windows is part of a new brand of dictionaries from Ultralingua for those users who need a simpler, more affordable dictionary for use in reading on their computer. The Accio Dictionary includes up to 80,000 indexed translations, along with idiomatic expressions, slang, and indications of usage. The Accio Dictionaries feature all of the vocabulary needed for everyday usage and traveling, but are lighter and have fewer features than standard Ultralingua dictionaries. The company has recently released Accio Dictionaries for the iPod complete with talking phrasebooks, and plans releases of versions for Palm OS and Windows Mobile later this year.

About Ultralingua Inc.
Ultralingua is a leading provider of dictionary and grammar/spell checking software for educators, translators, and business travelers worldwide. The Company’s product lines consist of twenty-six bilingual dictionaries, three monolingual dictionaries, four grammar and spelling checkers, the Eureka thematic encyclopedia, and the Distinguo semantic search tools. Ultralingua distributors include McGraw-Hill, Apple Computer, Hachette Multimedia, Handango, PalmGear, and others. Ultralingua is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Accio products are available to order online starting at $19.95, with a 10 day evaluation period at: http://www.acciodictionary.com.

Epocware/Paragon Software Group has released a new version of SlovoEd 1.7 for Symbian S60 3rd Edition.

For 10 years Paragon Software (SHDD) has been producing high-quality dictionaries for mobile devices in cooperation with dictionary databases by leading publishing houses. Paragon Software (SHDD) has been specializing in smartphone software for a long time which guarantees reliability of the new version.

New version SlovoEd 1.7 issue is concerned with the recent release of Symbian S60 3rd Edition. SlovoEd dictionary was developed with active assistance and support by famous mobile phones brand Nokia. Elaborations of Paragon Company are always up-to-date. Now Nokia E50, E60, E61, E70; Nokia N71, N73, N80, Nokia N91, N92, N93 ; Nokia 3250; Nokia 5500 users can get new version of one the most distinguished mobile dictionaries.

Main features of SlovoEd 1.7 for Symbian S60 3rd Edition:
- Easy-to-use interface;
- High quality of dictionary databases is a consequent result of SlovoEd and the world leading publishers’ cooperation: Merriam-Webster Inc., Van Dale Lexicografie BV, Larousse Editiorial, S.L., MAGENTA LTD, LingoMAXX, MediaLingua;
- Large range of articles represents a selection of modern vocabulary;
- Quick and precise translation enables to find rapidly a required word. User will see the results in clear and structured way;
- Unique compression technology locates 100 000 words in 600 Kb and save the space on a storage device;
- User can install the dictionary on memory card.

Multifunctional handy SlovoEd 1.7 dictionary for S60 3rd Edition solves linguistic obstacles concerning either at first language lessons or studying process as well. SlovoEd represents 130 dictionaries among which user is able to choose the best options. For more information, please, visit www.epocware.com, www.slovoed.com.

About Paragon Software Group (Smart Handheld Devices Division)

The Smart Handheld Devices Division of Paragon Software Group, founded in 1995, develops software for diverse classes of smart handheld devices (e.g. Palm OS, Pocket PC/Windows Mobile, Symbian OS): multilingual on-line handwriting recognition (PenReader), RAM and ROM based localization (LEng and PiLoc), multilingual dictionaries (SlovoEd), business and game applications.

About Epocware

Epocware, a subsidiary of Paragon Software Group, has been successfully developing and distributing end-user and custom software for Symbian OS/EPOC since 1997.

Main products by Epocware, well known among thousands of customers all over the world, are: SlovoEd translation dictionaries, personal productivity & information management applications (”Handy” series), and solitaire games for all Symbian OS platforms.

The company intention is to keep listening to customers and market demands and bring new innovative solutions to the market during the upcoming year.

FALLBROOK — Rainbow Valley Grange and Junior Grange held their annual bake sale at the Rainbow Days Picnic May 27 at Rainbow Park. Grange members Jeannette Duarte; Nancy, Lucette and Suzanne Moramarco; Tracy Lathrop; the Komski family; and Junior Granger Lauren Gilbert contributed baked goods and funds to the sale. Brownies, mini pineapple-upside-down cakes, fruit bars, muffins and donuts brought in a record $110 for this year’s project.

The money raised will pay for dictionaries for the upcoming third grade class at Vallecitos School. The dictionaries will be ordered through The Dictionary Project, a nation-wide program that works through civic organizations to provide dictionaries for third grade students to keep and use throughout their education. According to organizers, “The ideal of this program is to aid teachers in their goal to see all their students leave at the end of the year as good writers, active readers and creative thinkers.” Because the fundraiser was so successful, dictionaries for the following year’s third grade class will be bought at the same time.

Last year 789 Granges in 32 states supported The Dictionary Project through the donation of 51,312 dictionaries to their local third-graders in a campaign called “Words for Thirds.” A total of 1,099,518 dictionaries were given out nationwide through various service groups in 2005. Anyone interested in participating in this worthwhile project can find more information at www.dictionaryproject.org.

Rainbow Valley Grange will be holdings its next meeting on Saturday, June 10, with the Youth Fair Team meeting at 3:30 p.m., Junior Grange at 4:30 and Community Grange at 5:30. At 6:30 pizza will be available for $1 a slice for members and $1.50 a slice for non-members. For more information call Lucette at (760) 489-9502 or Nancy at (760) 728-6690.

There are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, most of them in one dictionary or another. But Barbara Wallraff has written a delightful little book on the words that are not in those standard references —- and probably never will be.

Wallraff, author of “Word Court” and “Your Own Words,” now carries an author’s badge as U.S. marshal in charge of tracking down these “recreationally coined” words, or what she calls “fugitive” words. The menagerie compiled in “Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words” (Collins, $14.95) has been adapted from her column in The Atlantic Monthly and provides lexiphiles (if I may invent a word) with a plethora of coined words in mint condition.

No need, however, to create new words (neologisms) to describe the result. It’s just plain fun.

My favorite: What’s the word to describe the people, seen in cars, airports and shopping centers, with the ubiquitous cell phone glued to their ears? Yakasses.

Others:

What’s the term for that momentary confusion among those in the vicinity when a cell phone rings and no one is sure whose it is? Pandephonium is among the better descriptions.

The word for sending an e-mail with an attachment, but hitting the send key before attaching the file? How about forgetfileness?

Is there a label for people who send an e-mail and follow it up with another e-mail asking if you got the previous e-mail? Redundunces works.

And a neutral word for the third-person singular pronoun? This one’s still at large.

All are tasty morsels for language gourmands, in a book to be nibbled at between minings of a thesaurus or “reverse” dictionary. But there are some scholarly side salads, too —- at least to word-lovers.

For instance, do any of these coined words ever make it into the standard dictionaries? Rarely, if ever, Wallraff concludes.

The reasons are something to chew on.

Apart from Dictionary.com, M-W.com (Merriam-Webster) is one of the best English-English dictionaries on the Internet. It is great to see that now users of Windows Mobile phones (both MS Smarpthone and Pocket PC phone edition devices) can put whole Merriam-Webster dictionary to their pocket by installing the newly launched software! Interestingly also “clear audio pronunciations” are available - as add-on - for this English dictionary for Windows Mobile …

Information from Paragon Software company follows.

* * * * *

Paragon Software (SHDD) and Merriam-Webster, Inc. announce new project for popular mobile platforms

Paragon Software (SHDD), and Merriam-Webster, Inc., the American language reference publisher, have announced their collaboration to create an authoritative mobile dictionary.

Three top versions of Merriam-Webster’s dictionaries—Collegiate, Mass Market, and Pocket—are available now for the most popular platforms of PDAs, mobile computers and different kinds of smartphones including Palm OS, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC, and Symbian OS.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. is recognized everywhere as America’s foremost and most distinguished language reference publisher. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is an American publishing institution, selling more than 56 million copies since its initial publication in 1898. Each Merriam-Webster dictionary is the product of extensive research and meticulous writing and editing conducted by the largest full-time staff of lexicographers in North America. The name “Merriam-Webster” carries the quality and authority of a company backed by more than 170 years of accumulated knowledge and expertise.

Paragon Software (Smart Handheld Devices Division) is a trusted software provider, serving customers throughout the world with state-of-the-art mobile programs of the highest quality. The company has rapidly gained international status by focusing directly on the specific needs of its customers, and by utilizing the top-ranking SlovoEd dictionary engine to develop products that accommodate users of all skill levels—from the most discerning educators and business professionals to English language learners. All engines developed by Paragon Software maintain the integrity of the original platform, and are compatible with a wide range of hardware variants.

With instant access to classic Merriam-Webster content now available on a variety of mobile devices, the time-consuming process of wading through a pile of text books is no longer an obstacle to improving communication skills. The electronic versions of Merriam-Webster’s dictionaries include a large range of up-to-date vocabulary, clear audio pronunciations, and methods to facilitate individual study habits.

“We are extremely proud of the fact that Paragon Software (SHDD) has partnered with such a trustworthy publisher as Merriam-Webster in order to develop a mobile dictionary,” said Alexander Zudin, vice president, Paragon Software Group. “Our shared mission is to meet the needs of the widest possible range of mobile device users.”

”Merriam-Webster is pleased to work with Paragon Software to publish our dictionaries for mobile platforms,” said James W. Withgott, Vice President and Associate Publisher of Merriam-Webster. “This partnership gives us an exciting new way to utilize and distribute our reference products, and offers a great service to anyone who works—or plays—with language.”

The unique collaboration of Merriam-Webster Inc. and Paragon Software (SHDD) has already proved to be fruitful, and both companies look forward to broadening the development of invaluable software for popular platforms of PDAs, mobile computers, and smartphones. For more information, please visit Paragon Software at http://www.penreader.com or Merriam-Webster, Inc. at http://www.Merriam-Webster.com.