Well it's not in the spell checker yet. Obama that is. Wonder how long it will take to be added.

Is there any way to update it? I know you can add one word at a time, but I often come across words that should be in it but aren't.

sure, for personal use only, anything can be added to a local dictionary, via the RMB.

It seems to get updated spelling dictionaries, one has to go to the firefox site and download/install the latest. Though Obama isn't there yet.

Yeah, I mentioned in my post that I knew how to do it one word at a time.


Neat, wasn't aware of that. I'll go look for it, but do you have a link? *edit* or maybe I need clarification - when you say "download the latest" do you mean the latest dictionary or the latest Firefox build? */edit*

Umm, why should "Obama" be listed in a dictionary?

I'm sure "bush" is listed along with one or more definitions, none of which I hope has anything to do with a president.

The same reason that it doesn't complain about Eisenhower or Chretien, but does complain about Madeupname.

Also, Obama. Bush is in there, too, but the stupid site won't let me link directly to it.

Fine examples of words that should not be in any dictionary. Seems like editors of Merriam-Webster need to look up the word "Encyclopedia."

The entry for Chretien is also more than 5 years out of date.

"Eisenhower" appears in Random House, American Heritage, and Oxford American English, and those are just the big players.

Is your argument that you should have to have an encyclopedia in order to determine spelling and pronunciation of the names of prominent individuals?

No, my argument is centered around the need of consulting a dictionary for the meaning of those words. One would generally have to know how to spell something to look it up in a dictionary, though I suppose you can find the word you're looking for by knowing only the first few letters.

An encyclopedia or similar reference book is the more appropriate place for a background on historical figures.

I don't expect to find "George Clooney" or "Paris Hilton" or "Carrot Top" in a dictionary. Though I would expect to find "carrot" and "top" and perhaps "George" and "Paris" if the dictionary included an origin of proper names and world cities.

The Dictionary application built into Mac OS X (Leopard) provides only information on Kings of Britain for "George" - material better suited for a reference volume like an encyclopedia IMO.

There's some handiness to having easy access to this type of information, but where does it end? Where is the line drawn? The dictionary is growing well beyond defining words (units) used in the language.

You better go make sure those kids get off your lawn, too. I hear shaking your fist in the air helps.

Firefox dictionary download page.

Many languages, Don't know how often any are updated.

I get:
Obadiah
Obadias
Bamako
Alabama
as options for 'Obama' with a 'fresh' FF dictionary.
What the heck is Bamako? LOL

But, with the possible exception of you and Bitt, people on this thread are talking about spelling-checker "dictionaries" (really just word lists), which are most effective if they don't follow the same inclusion rules as actual dictionaries. In particular, you want your spelling-checker to know about commonly-used proper nouns. Celebrity and electability can both confer commonly-used status on a proper noun very rapidly: Obama, Clooney. One political party in the UK recently had a leader called Menzies Campbell, whose first name contains not a Z but a yogh, threatening to throw ISO8859-1 spelling checkers into complete disarray.

Peter

Good point.

Does Mr. Campbell actually spell his name "Menȝies"?

It's difficult to tell but, AFAICT, no, sadly. It is pronounced Mingiss, though.

Peter

Sounds mingy, if you ask me.


/a joke!