If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table? • Hacker News Board

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#11

Post by ghaff » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:07 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #9

wiredfool wrote: post #7

Phone books. They’re thick too.

Phone book? What is that?

Of course I haven't used (and for that matter not sure I've seen) a white pages in years. But yellow pages can still be somewhat useful for finding local services of various types. A lot of local service businesses are still pretty bad about online presences.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#12

Post by interfixus » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:13 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #11

interfixus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone book? What is that?

Of course I haven't used (and for that matter not sure I've seen) a white pages in years. But yellow pages can still be somewhat useful for finding local services of various types. A lot of local service businesses are still pretty bad about online presences.

Where I live (Denmark), nobody makes any phonebooks anymore. I believe the last time I used one was in 2003.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#13

Post by simplesleeper » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:14 PM UTC

wiredfool wrote: post #7

Phone books. They’re thick too.

we got a yellow pages phonebook this year. Thinner than a standard paperback now

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#14

Post by whoopdedo » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

Clearly the answer is to hot glue a stack of the obsolete and unrepairable devices that you had to upgrade from every 18 months.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#15

Post by ghaff » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:20 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #12

ghaff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course I haven't used (and for that matter not sure I've seen) a white pages in years. But yellow pages can still be somewhat useful for finding local services of various types. A lot of local service businesses are still pretty bad about online presences.

Where I live (Denmark), nobody makes any phonebooks anymore. I believe the last time I used one was in 2003.

I'm not sure white pages are still printed in the US, but I do get a yellow pages delivered every year.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#16

Post by _asummers » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:32 PM UTC

whoopdedo wrote: post #14

Clearly the answer is to hot glue a stack of the obsolete and unrepairable devices that you had to upgrade from every 18 months.

Wouldn't those be lap bottoms then?

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#17

Post by Broken_Hippo » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:32 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #12

ghaff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course I haven't used (and for that matter not sure I've seen) a white pages in years. But yellow pages can still be somewhat useful for finding local services of various types. A lot of local service businesses are still pretty bad about online presences.

Where I live (Denmark), nobody makes any phonebooks anymore. I believe the last time I used one was in 2003.

I've not seen a phone book since moving to Norway, and just realized it after reading your comment. In the states, I'd get at least one every year - sometimes two - and it didn't matter if I wanted one or not. I honestly think they print them because businesses pay to be in them.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#18

Post by sparrish » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:37 PM UTC

The Cooshee, or course. I bought one in 2001 and all 7 of my kids have used it.

https://www.babysmart.com/copy-home

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#19

Post by nerdponx » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:38 PM UTC

simias wrote: post #3

I have a certain nostalgia for dictionaries as well. That is, until I actually end up having to use one nowadays. It one of these problems that modern technology has completely and utterly superseded. You can find people arguing for the superiority of analog audio or film cameras (if only for purely subjective or emotional reasons) but I wonder if you'll find many people who still go out of their ways to use a paper…

A paper dictionary is nice when reading a paper book. I seem to have two "flows" in my brain, one for reading on paper and one for interacting with a computer screen. Looking up a word on the computer seems to break up one flow with the other, whereas I don't have the same problem flipping through a book.

Re: If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What'll Children Sit on to Reach the Table?

#20

Post by 1stcity3rdcoast » Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:39 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #12

ghaff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course I haven't used (and for that matter not sure I've seen) a white pages in years. But yellow pages can still be somewhat useful for finding local services of various types. A lot of local service businesses are still pretty bad about online presences.

Where I live (Denmark), nobody makes any phonebooks anymore. I believe the last time I used one was in 2003.

In the United States it’s still a law in many states that landline providers are required to provide a printed white pages, which they subsidize with yellow pages (ads). It’s a legal anachronism.