The thing that really loses me when I read newspapers and magazines are the $50 words columnists use to show off how smart they are. Sure, I like to learn new words just as much as the next person but I don’t carry a dictionary with me when I read the daily paper. That is probably why I don’t buy one every day like I use to. Why do columnists use the word “diminutive” when they can use the word “small”? Is this one of the reasons that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaurs?
Now what does that have to do with my Mac computer? I came across this word recently and all I had to do was highlight the word and drag it over my “Dictionary” icon and voila! Almost instantly the word was there before me with its meaning for me to understand. Once I knew what the word meant I could use it everywhere. I noticed that the Mac computer was everywhere too. In TV shows, TV commercials and movies. In Starbucks and even my local Chapters bookstore uses what unmistakably is a Mac computer as their search “station”.
I like to read blogs from reasonably intelligent people that don’t overdo using obscure words that only 2% of the population know without consulting a dictionary. But when I come across a word that I don’t know it’s great that my Dictionary is right there on my desktop.
