Is there a common English word or a technical term that names the process of taking a page or picture from the real world to the virtual? In other words, if I took a physical page and, with a scanner or camera, turned it into a file on my computer; what would you call that action?
posted by millerizer on Oct 2, 2011 - 21 answers

Calling all English word-nerds and/or Japanese translators: have you ever heard the term "fancywork" used to refer to male genitalia? [more inside]
posted by dubitable on Jun 2, 2010 - 22 answers

Do you know of a decent free/cheap Korean-English/English-Korean offline dictionary for Mac OSX 10.6? [more inside]
posted by smorange on Apr 24, 2010 - 2 answers

Is there a resource that demonstrates how to do foreign accents by re-spelling words in such a way that when read aloud by an American, will closely resemble the accent? For example, in "Australian", Down = Dan. [more inside]
posted by TimeTravelSpeed on Apr 2, 2010 - 15 answers

Is there an open source (or free for non-commercial use) list of English (Either RP or Standard American) IPA transcriptions available somewhere? Example: car: /ˈkɑː/, cat: /kæt/.
posted by Memo on Feb 15, 2010 - 10 answers

Is the Oxford–Hachette French English dictionary properly available online if you live outside of France? [more inside]
posted by fantasticninety on Feb 3, 2009 - 3 answers

Is the English language stagnating or do dictionaries just suck? [more inside]
posted by Ookseer on Dec 1, 2008 - 19 answers

I need recommendations for the best Spanish review/dictionary. [more inside]
posted by greta simone on Apr 21, 2008 - 4 answers

Francofilter (part 2) (part 1): What's my best option for a science/technical French-English/English-French dictionary? [more inside]
posted by solotoro on Apr 12, 2008 - 5 answers

What does one call something that contains the seeds of its own downfall? [more inside]
posted by viewofdelft on Oct 5, 2006 - 35 answers

Mac OS X 10.4 has a wonderful little feature associated with Dictionary.app : if press crtl + apple + D, it gives you the definition of the word under the cursor. Clearly this is only of limited use to a native english speaker, but I can imagine it being very helpful to non-native speakers, and I've very much love to have dictionaries in other languages (firsly French). However, it appears Apple never bothered to make any. Any idea what the file format is? Or how to make your own dictionary? [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges on Oct 2, 2006 - 9 answers

The online version of the OED (subscription required) uses an ASCII version of IPA, and I can't figure it out. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Jan 8, 2006 - 12 answers

A friend of mine would like to buy an electronic Japanese-English dictionary. What model do you recommend? [more inside]
posted by teem on Dec 3, 2005 - 8 answers

Electronic version of the Oxford English Dictionary? [more inside]
posted by odinsdream on Oct 24, 2005 - 32 answers

I'm pretty verbose, but I don't think my vocabulary has grown much in years. And I'd like to build it up. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on May 18, 2005 - 23 answers

Which dictionaries would you recommend as a gift for a writer friend? [more inside]
posted by hootch on Apr 27, 2005 - 35 answers

English language question: what is the difference between intern/internship and trainee/traineeship? [+] [more inside]
posted by elgilito on Jan 28, 2005 - 18 answers

What's the difference between the words "proffer" and "offer"? This has been driving me mad for some reason for a few days now. Every dictionary I consult basically seems to say that they mean the same thing. But surely there must be a difference, right?
posted by reklaw on Apr 19, 2004 - 12 answers