Free Words

The OED is holding all the good words hostage. The Wiktionary is good, but it isn't enough. This is less an idea and more a challenge. This is all out war.

The OED is wrong. They are vile word mongers. The charge you a pretty penny on a yearly basis just to catch a fleeting glimpse of the ankle of a word's etymology. And you can buy the OED for only slightly more than it costs to rent it for a year online.

Here's the deal. The internet is an open medium. Wiki's utilize this openness to nearly its fullest (while attempting to address the problems inherent in that open form). Language is also a really fluid thing. There is a clear confluence here that needs to be utilized.

So let's hammer out some details. The OED online is theoretically far superior to the printed version because it can be updated much more regularly and those updates incorporated in the basic format (also super search-able). The other end of the spectrum is something like online slang dictionaries. They utilize the openness of the web, but to such effect that they are an utter mess completely without authority. The OED, because they are the OED, have the perceived (and I suppose actual) authority to validate any changes they make. You, however, have to pay for have access to that level of authority. Wiki's, somehow or another, are gaining in this sense of authority. There is a community that takes these sites utterly seriously and police them as such. Theoretically then, through the magic of consensus, which is precisely how language works, we should have something that reflects a similar authority to the OED, and for free.

There are still problems, but if you accept that there should be a dictionary at all, I think this should provide a possible excellent free solution. My practical advice here? All college students with prepaid access to the OED should start lifting (via pseudo-legal means, rewriting if necessary) full entries off of the OED. Meaning I want dates and usages and etymologies. I suppose that is probably really illegal. So, like, also...figure out how to skirt the legal issues for me.

But seriously...FREE THE WORDS!!!