
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992                   TAG: 9203030121
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LARRY BLASKO ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THIS IS THE LATEST WORD IN DICTIONARIES

Some of us learned to use dictionaries in third grade, looked up all the dirty words by fourth grade and haven't touched a dictionary much since.

Not that dictionaries wouldn't be handy now and then, but they make you do a lot of work. First you have to find the book and, with some of the heavier editions, hoist it. Then you have to know at least roughly how to spell the word you're looking for. Then you find the word and discover that you don't understand half the definition.

Computerized dictionaries for home PCs eliminate a lot of that hassle. They offer wild-card searching (all words beginning with "c" and ending with "r.") Or topic searching (all definitions that include the word "computer"). Some offer logical searching (all definitions that include "computer" AND "obsession").

Storage has been, and to some extent remains, the bugaboo of computerized dictionaries.

Unless they're on CD-ROMs (compact disk players for computers), many products downsize the number of words defined.

Some also omit geographical or biographical information or cut features standard in printed dictionaries such as pronunciation keys or word origins.

Reference Software International, a San Francisco company, offers the "Random House Webster's Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus College Edition," a computerized dictionary that's pretty much maxi-service and mini-hassle. (Hassle, says the dictionary, is, as a noun, "a troublesome or trying situation; bother.")

There's also an on-line thesaurus, which says other words for hassle include "harass, harry, persecute, vex, hound, bother, badger, annoy; Slang bug."

All of this is easy to use from a word processor (it's running in WordPerfect 5.1 as I write this), since it's a TSR, a Terminate And Stay Resident program. That means the program lurks in memory until you press the right key combination. Then up it pops.

All the standard dictionary features are there, and the wild card and logical searching features are a big plus. Type the word "thesaurus" in your word processor, press the hot keys and up pops the definition that it's a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms.

At a suggested retail price of $99, the Random House offering is a good buy with these caveats:

All that information's gotta go somewhere, and the full installation will eat up almost 10 million characters on a hard disk drive.

Wild-card searches not carefully designed can take a while, again a function of all that information.

Installation is easy, and the manual is nicely written though more or less unnecessary since on-line help is a gem. Don't start installation two minutes before you have to catch a train. It takes time to shuffle through the dozen 3.5-inch floppy disks.

The electronic dictionary is based on the print version published last May and handles most current slang. At least most slang current for a 40-something person. If working with words is what you do for a living and you have the disk space, give it a look. It's now available from software outlets, says Reference Software International, or you can call them direct at (800) 872-9933.

by CNB