Want to Write Gooder?

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=20657">http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=20657</a><br /><br />If you do ANY kind of writing, either casually or for work, and ever find yourself searching for just the right words to express yourself, you should check out the latest update of Lextionary.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/lextionary.gif" /><br /><br />"Lextionary is a dictionary and thesaurus of the English language with features and information that are far superior to a normal dictionary. Instead of just having words organized alphabetically, Lextionary also organizes words by their semantic meaning. A normal dictionary only gives the definition of a word, but Lextionary starts with a definition and gives a multitude of links to others words."<br /><br />Other features include:<br /><br />• ClearType technology for ease in reading <br />• 138,880 entries, all with definitions or sample usage. <br />• Over 250,000 links between words. <br />• Phonetic pronunciations. <br />• Over 1.4 million words in a 7.1 mb database. <br /><br />The latest update also includes more powerful search features and some helpful layout enhancements. The update is free to current users. You can also download a free demo or purchase the full version for $12.99 (a limited time reduced price).<br /><br />Even though this version is kind of a minor update, I'm posting about it because this is one of the applications I use nearly every day. Its searches are surprisingly fast and its huge database has helped me write very much gooder on many, many occasions.

[Merlion]

You can also go to www.lextionary.com to search for words Lextionary-style. Lextionary.com isn't anywhere as good as Lextionary the program though.

BTW, this 2002 PocketPC Award Winner for Best Dictionary is currently on sale for only $12.99 at Lextionary's website (http://www.revolution.cx/Lex/lexbuy.htm) now. Those planning to buy it should get it soon as the offer is only for a limited time! :) You can download the trial version for a spin.

[Jason Dunn]

I *love* this app - it always gets installed on my Pocket PC in short order. Very handy to have around, even just for looking up words that you encounter but haven't heard before... :D

[Mark R Penn]

Looks great, but how well does it cope with the difference between English English, and American English (color, colour etc)? I could see no reference to that on the site.

I may just buy it if it can take account of that.

Mark

[Rirath]

I was lucky enough to win this back in the new years contests. I absolutely love dictionary programs and use them daily, but surprisingly I've got little use from Lextionary. I mostly use it for light spell checking since I already consider my vocabulary well above par. Still, it's great to have around. :) I would certainly suggest buying it at $13.00. Perhaps you folks that use it daily could suggest some good uses?

By the way, if you work with Japanese at all you might want to check out the freeware JWPce. It's a Japanese wordprocessor with a full english &lt;-> Japanese dictionary and Kanji lookup. One can never have too many dictionaries.

[BugDude10]

Brad, Brad, Brad... the irony... In reviewing a language program, you've got the headline all screwed up!

It should be "Want to Write More Gooder"!

[FedUp]

...but surprisingly I've got little use from Lextionary. I mostly use it for light spell checking since I already consider my vocabulary well above par...
Geez, Rirath, you've got some pretty big cahonies, don't you? Isn't this the giveaway you had to actually enter in order to win? Even though there's a demo available, you couldn't tell before entering that this program wasn't up to your "high" standards? So, somebody who really wanted the program was denied because of your selfishness.

And trust me, your vocabulary is not well above par (very little about your attitude is). So please, either use the program or give the registration up to somebody who wants it.

[shawnc]

Well my vocabulary is definitely NOT above the standards of this fine application. Out of all the programs I have loaded, this is the one that gets the most use. It is so much easier than lugging around a dictionary and MUCH better for word look-up than the freebe from microsoft. What I didn't realize was how effective it is as a thesarus.

I great app at $19.99. A must-have app at $13.

[T-Will]

Yeah, I had to do a double-take on the headline. LOL!

[Craig Horlacher]

I bought Lextionary a year or two ago and have seen it go through a number of updates. The author fixed everything I didn't like about the initial release (no copy/paste, no spell check) and fixed other bugs as well as adding some other features like the pronunciations. Besides useing it to look up works it also makes a great spell checker. Even on my old e125 the searches are almost instant! I forget how much it was when I bought it but it's one of the programs I use the most and well worth more than the current sale price of $13.00!!!

[Steven Cedrone]

Rirath (I realize you haven't replied...yet), FedUp,

Before this turns into something ugly, just walk away...

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator

[FedUp]

Before this turns into something ugly, just walk away...
Okay, Steven, I agree. I've said my peace and will not say anything else on the subject. As always, your level head prevails.

[Merlion]

Yeah, I had to do a double-take on the headline. LOL!
He heh :lol: , I checked gooder with Lextionary! :oops: :P :D :lol:

[Merlion]

Rirath (I realize you haven't replied...yet), FedUp,

Before this turns into something ugly, just walk away...

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator
Gotta give Rirath more credit, he's more level-headed & good-humored than you think! ;)

I mostly use it for light spell checking since I already consider my vocabulary well above par.

Well, for those who find Lextionary too simple for them to own & who need to check on a word or alternative words sometime, just PM our most helpful Rirath! ;) &nbsp :twisted: &nbsp :D

[Jason Dunn]

"The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly."

Proverbs 15:13-15

[revolution.cx]

Thanks for all the kind comments on Lextionary!

I messed up when I released 1.3 and broke it on Pocket PC 2000. 1.31 that works properly on Pocket PC 2000 will be out later today.

1.3 on Pocket PC 2002 is all good.

Just another lesson in quality control: that one last tiny bug fix can truly break everything and that's why you always have to retest everything even if it's a big pain in the neck. It's human nature to say "but I just tested in 20 times, it's fine" but it's the reason things like the Space Shuttle blow up:

http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/SocialConstruction/FeynmanChallengerRpt.html

[Duncan]

I also consider myself to have a very wide vocabulary, well above average. It is worth, however, reflecting on what that actually means.

Research has shown that among English speakers of average IQ the average vocabulary pool, from which they take their spoken English, amounts to a mere 2 - 3,000 words. For those with a recognised high IQ that 'pool' of words is nearer 10,000. For written English the pool of words tends to be smaller - though this is hard to quantify as even the best research can only produce an estimate.

Surpisingly those in the very highest percentiles for IQ tend to have a smaller 'word bank' than those just below them (around 8,000). As there is a tendency for the 'highly intelligent' to gravitate towards specialised areas of knowledge, it has been suggested that increased specialised/technical vocabulary may be gained at the expense of 'normal' or everyday English. It may even explain the infamous 'social awkwardness' of the nerd! :wink:

Certain groups - including many (curiously!) with dyslexia, dyspraxia and Asperger's syndrome - tend to have an abnormally high vocabulary - even as high as 20,000 words.

Higher than this is exteremely rare. Unlike riding a bicycle, vocabulary CAN be lost through disuse (or simply replaced with new vocabualry!). The human brain appears to have a word retention mechanism that ranks word usage - once a word has fallen below a certain level of usage it becomes unavailable to the speaker. We can't say for certain if the words are 'forgotten' or simply 'put in storage' in some way.

In terms of spelling and appropriate word usage - persons with high spoken vocabulary can none-the-less be poor at spelling and prone to misuse words. Persons with low vocabularies can, just as easily, be able to spell correctly and to use that vocabulary accurately.

So - to get to my point - Lextionary has nearly 130,000 words not in my normal vocabulary with usage and spelling (both US and UK - yay to Revolution.cx!!!) shown clearly. All of us, no matter how proud we are of our vocabularies, should be humble enough, and smart enough, to have and to use dictionaries when necessary!

[kfluet]

Just one more thumbs up on Lexionary. I have what I consider a large vocab but I find this app indispensible when reading ebooks. The ONLY useful thing I learned from L Ron Hubbards _Dianetics_: never read past a word you don't understand.

[Rirath]

I also consider myself to have a very wide vocabulary, well above average. It is worth, however, reflecting on what that actually means.

In terms of spelling and appropriate word usage - persons with high spoken vocabulary can none-the-less be poor at spelling and prone to misuse words. Persons with low vocabularies can, just as easily, be able to spell correctly and to use that vocabulary accurately.

Exactly. I consider my spelling to be average at best. I searched high and low for a good dictionary and single word spell checker for the PPC and Lextionary is by far the best I found. It suits my needs and my particular usages rather well. All I'm simply saying is I don't use it as often as I'd like to and I'm open to suggestions. I've found a few from this thread. :way to go:

[Brad Adrian]

Thanks, Duncan, for the interesting comments about vocabulary. I had no idea how (relatively) limited most people's vocabularies are and how it varies. Maybe that's what I like the most about this Thoughts community; there is such a wealth and diversity of knowledge and most readers are willing to share what they know with others.

[Brad Adrian]

...All I'm simply saying is I don't use it as often as I'd like to and I'm open to suggestions...
If you like crossword puzzles, it can be a great help.

On that note, I'm looking for an application similar to one I had on my old Psion 5mx and it was great for solving crossword puzzles. You could type in the parts of a word that you DID know, with question marks for those letters you didn't, and then it provided a listing of words that fit. For example, if I entered

"?ocket," it would return "locket, pocket, rocket, socket..." etc.

Anybody know of a Pocket PC app that does that?

[revolution.cx]

I can say that Lextionary 2.0, due out this June, will have the ability to do all sorts of partial word searches, making it useful to scrabble and crossword puzzle players.

[Merlion]

Cool dude! I'm a crossword fanatic for many yrs. I tried to stay away from it these days to make time for other things. :) Do current Lextionary owners get a free upgrade to 2.0? ;)

And Brad, there's this free IDic by François Pessaux (http://guinness.cs.stevens-tech.edu/~fpessaux/#The_other_stuff_I_did) that does crossword word searches. The Collins Cobuild English Dictionary's supposed to do crossword searches as well, but it's kinda expensive.

[revolution.cx]

Cool dude! I'm a crossword fanatic for many yrs. I tried to stay away from it these days to make time for other things. :) Do current Lextionary owners get a free upgrade to 2.0? ;)


Yep, 2.0 upgrade will be free except for a very small percentage of users (those who purchased via the Handango rebate promotion, but it will be a small one time upgrade fee for them).

[tonyrxman]

Does anybody know of a dictionary (for pocket pc) that gives you the original root meaning of the word... (ie. parachute, root word "para" means 'to protect from' and the word "chute" means 'to fall')??