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Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

linguabase.org

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Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#21

Post by ticulatedspline »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #17
gligierko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some are better than others. Many semi-transparents could get legit coverage. And many are good fodder for word game content.

The rest of the article did a good job explaining that. I just think those were terrible examples for the introduction. I think "shut up", "good night", and "hot dog" would have really got the point across better, but those might already be in dictionaries.

They're clearly a bit over-zealous bout what examples they think have meaning. They cite substitution as a good test for a phrase but double down on boiling water.

> Lexicographers used a substitutability test: if you can swap synonyms freely, it’s not a lexical unit. “Cold feet” (meaning fear) can’t become “frigid feet”—so it gets an entry. But the test cuts both ways. You can say “boiling water” but not “seething water” or “raging water.” The phrase resists substitution too.

These aren't failures for substitution because "Raging" isn't' a synonym in this case. where frigid would be a reasonable.

I wonder perhaps if the author is confusing the idiom "hot water" which is in there https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hot_water and would fail the substitution test.

Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#22

Post by kgwgk »

hagbard_c wrote: post #15
kgwgk wrote: post #11

> Got a word Didn’t > frozen water → ice boiling water Freezing water doesn’t have a word. Boiled water does have a word.

Freezing water doesn't have a word, it only gets one after water has changed phase. Boiling water also gets a word once it has changed phase: steam. ice - water - steam

Right. (I’m not sure if you’re aware but that’s exactly what I said.)

Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#25

Post by simlevesque »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #9

There are nearly half a million compound phrases that aren’t in any dictionary—simply because they contain spaces. “Boiling water.” “Saturday night.” “Help me.” I would hope that none of those examples were taking up space in a dictionary.

The first two I kind of understand what the author means. But "help me" and "severe pain" made me think that I'm just not the right public for this text.

Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#27

Post by dec0dedab0de »

simlevesque wrote: post #25
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #9

There are nearly half a million compound phrases that aren’t in any dictionary—simply because they contain spaces. “Boiling water.” “Saturday night.” “Help me.” I would hope that none of those examples were taking up space in a dictionary.

The first two I kind of understand what the author means. But "help me" and "severe pain" made me think that I'm just not the right public for this text.

I don’t see how boiling water could ever be a single word. Would that mean we need entries for every other liquid boiling?

i guess Saturday night could have some extra details explaining the context around our standard work week. But even that is a stretch.

Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#29

Post by butvacuum »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #17
gligierko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some are better than others. Many semi-transparents could get legit coverage. And many are good fodder for word game content.

The rest of the article did a good job explaining that. I just think those were terrible examples for the introduction. I think "shut up", "good night", and "hot dog" would have really got the point across better, but those might already be in dictionaries.

'hot dog' belongs in a thesaurus, not a dictionary. It's just a type of sausage.

Re: Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries

#30

Post by dragonwriter »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #17
gligierko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some are better than others. Many semi-transparents could get legit coverage. And many are good fodder for word game content.

The rest of the article did a good job explaining that. I just think those were terrible examples for the introduction. I think "shut up", "good night", and "hot dog" would have really got the point across better, but those might already be in dictionaries.

Yeah, the good examples are usually in dictionaries as headwords, the moderate examples are usually in dictionaries as phrases within the entry for one (or more) of the words that comprise them, leaving fairly weak examples actually “missing” if you want to use “missing words with spaces” as the basis for content.
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