[Leica] OED - OT (was lense (sic) is indeed...)

[Rei Shinozuka <shino@ubspainewebber.com>]

warning!!  seriously OT content follows!!  and some viewers
may find the following content bombastic.

i love the OED.  i have 2 sets, the microfiche-like compact for the
office and the 20-volume set at home.  the OED is by no means the oldest
dictionary (even webster's predates it by about a century) but i think it's
one of the great literary achievements of the past 2 centuries.

for those who aren't familiar with the OED and wonder why it's considered
an authority in a world where $3.55 buy you a nice student paperback
dictionary, allow me to proffer a very short explanation.  

in addition to the usual etymology, and spelling variations,
rather than merely list all common meanings of a word, the OED fortifies each
meaning with the oldest known use of the word and other significant
and illustrative quotations.  while the OED is not intended to be
prescriptive, its careful cataloging of citations brings a depth to
understanding of the particular word.  this is what makes it a unique
and engrossing reference.

take for example, the word "terrific," which i recall with some irritation
as being every third word in the old mary tyler moore show--("Murray, I think
you're terrific!").

websters give us 3 meanings:

Main Entry: ter.rif.ic
Pronunciation: t&-'ri-fik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin terrificus, from terrEre to frighten
Date: 1667
1 a : very bad : FRIGHTFUL b : exciting or fit to excite fear or awe
2 : EXTRAORDINARY
3 : unusually fine : MAGNIFICENT
- - ter.rif.i.cal.ly /-fi-k(&-)lE/ adverb

the OED gives us approximately similar meanings, the oldest being
the "frightful" variety dating back to Paradise Lost (1667).  the
mary-tyler-moore meaning dates back to 1930.  but the fun is in
the following quotations given for this last meaning:

1930 D. G. MACKAIL Young Livingstones xi. 271 `Thanks awfully,' said Rex.
      `That'll be ripping.' `Fine!' said Derek Yardley. `Great! Terrific!'
1940 Chatelaine Dec. 10/3 But think what it means that they want to come to
     you. Your bedside manner must be terrific.
1944 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Dec. 1/7 Lee McCardell [a reporter] is terrific--
     first into Metz, first into St. Avold, first into Saarlautern.
1951 `A. GARVE' Murder in Moscow iii. 47 Perdita..looked terrific in
     midnight-blue velvet.
1951 J. D. SALINGER Catcher in Rye xii. 103 This..guy had a terrific-looking
     girl with him. Boy, she was good-looking.
1971 Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 39/1 He believes the soil is `terrific'
     for potatoes and wheat.
1981 Daily Mail 14 October 15/1, `I feel great, really terrific,' said the
     former Wings guitarist.

from this, one derives a better understanding of the word "terrific";
that "terrific explosion" is a thoroughly apt usage, and that "that's
terrific!" borders on colloquialism, such as "ripping" and furthermore
has in its company words used with droll irony such as "awfully" in the
first quotation.  the salinger quote is also gratifying.

so to conclude on topic: other cameras may be terrific, but leicas are
splendid.

- -rei

> From: Mike Quinn <mlquinn@san.rr.com>
> 
> My compact OED claims that the two words come from different roots:
> Lens from lenticular (bean shaped) and lense from elensed (cleaned).
> My wife's Concise OED and my American Heritage Dictionary recognize only
> "Lens". Zpersonally, I never did like the Merriam Webster, but I don't
> really see the problem. People from British cultures (like my wife) do all
> sorts of strange and endearing things....
> 
> Mike Quinn
> 
>  Kyle Cassidy  wrote:
> 
> > i don't know why this seems to come up all the time, but it does ...
> > anyway ... my mirriam websters collegiate dictionary (an american edition
> > even) does indeed list "lense" as an accepted alternate spelling to
> > "lens". i checked, and it's on their web version as well
> > (www.yourdictionary.com):
>