Bob and I were discussing the future of bound books with a college professor friend of ours. With the availability of so much on the internet, there seems to be no use for "old-fashioned" reference books like the thesaurus or an encyclopaedia. In fact, The Oxford English Dictionary will no longer publish new print editions, only online versions. So it's no surprise when students these days need to be taught how to properly reference sources when writing essays and papers.
Knowing this, however, doesn't make it any less frustrating for the parent helping her 10-year-old daughter with homework when translating comes into question.
"Mommy, I need to go on your computer to do my French homework."
"Why don't you use my French-English dictionary," I said, pulling out the one I've had since high school.
"No!" Uh-oh. Here comes the protest. "It's too confusing. I just wanna do it online!"
"How can it be confusing? The front half is English to French, the back half is French to English."
"But, there's too many words!"
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
