The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #134055   Message #3046770
Posted By: JohnInKansas
05-Dec-10 - 06:04 AM
Thread Name: BS: Potentially Offensive Dict Definitions
Subject: RE: BS: Potentially Offensive Dict Definitions
If you need "slang" definitions there are numerous specialized dictionaries that include only "deviant" words. The definitions you suggest would likely be found in better ones of that kind, and I suspect that persons "sensitive to slurs" might benefit from having one, if knowing whether someone is trying to insult them is a concern. Even with those, historical meanings that are currently rare may not always be included.

An interesting specialized dictionary I recently picked up is the Dictionary of Ancient Deities (Oxford Press, by Turner & Coulter ISBN ) that claims to list every deity that the compilers could find that ever existed. It claims "over 10,000 entries" and I can assure you that most of those won't be found in the majority of dictionaries. (The paperback version was $35 (US) at Barnes, if anyone's interested. It's a rehash of the Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities published about ten years ago.)

(Their definitions of "current dieties" might be offensive to some current believers, as they're "historically correct" but omit the "religiosity," and don't differentiate between the "true" and the "false" deities. But of course we all know who they are.)

John