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Any Port in a Storm :: On the Plaza :: Where Words Collide :: using search engines to validate a word
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AuthorTopic: using search engines to validate a word (Read 365 times)
auntieannie
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using search engines to validate a word
« Thread Started on Mar 19, 2012, 10:12pm »		[Quote]
Sometimes I am not sure if a word I want to use "is a word" ... if you know what I mean. an official word that I can use in my essays.

Well, I have found that looking at how many finds a search engine comes up with gives me a clue as to the validity of said word.

Lazy? maybe! effective, though!
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bixaorellana
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #1 on Mar 20, 2012, 12:44am »		[Quote]
Not lazy -- smart! I use http://www.wordreference.com/ all the time to check if something needs an accent when I'm writing in Spanish. I also use this dictionary, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/, for writing in English. Even so, the dictionary can be limited when it comes to showing different uses and shades of meanings for words. That's when google really shines.

One thing search engines have done away with is that craziness caused by having a scrap of something stuck in your head & not being able to remember where it came from nor what the rest of it is. Just a scrap of a quotation stuck into a search engine will make the clouds part.
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auntieannie
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #2 on Mar 20, 2012, 10:51am »		[Quote]
:-*

I agree on the scrap of quotation. it finds songs for you!
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bixaorellana
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #3 on Mar 21, 2012, 3:18pm »		[Quote]
Often youtube can find the song from whatever line you remember.

But back to validating a word ....... whenever I use google for that, I generally get a few sites that discuss the word, its historical usage, how it's misused, etc. Do I remember to bookmark those sites for the next elusive word? :-[
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auntieannie
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #4 on Mar 21, 2012, 5:19pm »		[Quote]
happens to the best amongst us.
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patricklondon
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #5 on Mar 22, 2012, 6:25am »		[Quote]
That's what search engines are for - but you have to use your common sense as to what's a reliable source of information once it's found it. (Numbers of citations, though, may not always be a good guide - what if they all only quote to the word to say it doesn't exist?!). I tend to use www.askoxford.com, though www.urbandictionary.com is quite useful - with a pinch of salt - as to current and ephemeral (and disreputable!) slang.

And as for finding quotes, here's a case in point that settled something that had been occasionally niggling me for thirty or more years:
http://autolycus-london.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/detective-work.html
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #6 on Mar 22, 2012, 10:47am »		[Quote]
lovely story, Patrick!
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auntieannie
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #7 on Mar 23, 2012, 10:57pm »		[Quote]
I used your askoxford.com link to find out about vasodilation. I kept getting confused whether I was supposed to spell it as vasodilatation. Thank you!
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kerouac2
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #8 on Mar 23, 2012, 11:04pm »		[Quote]
I have noticed more than once about certain terms that the wrong term has more Google hits than the correct one.
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auntieannie
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #9 on Mar 24, 2012, 10:51am »		[Quote]
thanks for the warning!
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auntieannie
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #10 on Mar 24, 2012, 10:53am »		[Quote]
what really got me about this vasodilation, is that we say dilatation... so why not vasodilatation?
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patricklondon
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Re: using search engines to validate a word
« Reply #11 on Mar 26, 2012, 7:42am »		[Quote]

Quote:
what really got me about this vasodilation, is that we say dilatation... so why not vasodilatation?


OED gives two different etymological origins, "dilation" from the original verb and "dilatation" from the Latin noun derived from the original verb, but gives "dilatation" as a specific medical usage for enlarging a vessel and "dilation" as having a more general meaning of opening or widening. Which one the medical professions choose to use for particular operations must be just a matter of accident and custom.
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