Re:Why I built a dictionary app
by dionidium on Sunday July 31, 2022 @11:59PM
(#32301895)
I look up words for which I already know the primary definition all the time. Sometimes it's just to confirm that it doesn't mean something subtly different than I remember. Sometimes it's to find alternate/secondary uses. Sometimes it's to confirm spelling. Sometimes it's a jumping off point for synonyms or related words. I wouldn't assume you were totally unfamiliar with a word just because you looked it up.
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I’m amazed how often I “know” the primary definition, only to discover I’m wrong when I look in a dictionary. Same with pronunciation of words I’ve only seen written.
> Same with pronunciation of words I’ve only seen written.
I had the opposite experience when visiting the US for the first time. I saw a bag of 'luh-too-ché' in the store. For about 10 second my mind was wondering what it was. Then I realized that the word that is (to my Dutch brain) pronounced as 'ledice' is not spelled that way, it's spelled 'lettuce'. I came to the US with C2 level proficiency (thanks to subtitled media and MMORPGs), but I still had a lot to learn!
I do this all the time to look up pronunciations. I'm interested in linguistics so I taught myself IPA, and with things like stress being pretty unpredictable in English, while I might know the meaning of a word I like to make sure I'm pronouncing it correctly