This book is special. One of the biggest books. Thinnest papers. Smallest prints. Is it possible its new edition will ever stop coming? There was a time when every family might own it. Very rarely would anyone borrow this book. Pretty sure this may not be available in any lending library.

This one is a reference book for me and will remain one forever. So too for others. I am sure you have guessed what I am talking about. Yes, it is the Dictionary I am talking about. All of you would have used it at any point in time.

I have always used the Oxford Dictionary. In the workplace, though, one of my stenographers was fond of the Cambridge Dictionary, and so I got him one. It is sad a Dictionary is no longer a part of a family’s belongings. Everything is online now.

In my younger days, invariably if I came across any unknown word, I would rush to get the dictionary. Where is the writing habit now? It is typing now mostly with the thumb. Search out the word, find its meaning, try to digest it. See its other forms and root. And without fail, use it in any way possible at the earliest writings, letters, or others. Writing is a good way of remembering. Till the time I could read such fine prints, I always had my dictionary at close quarters. Now, I don’t know if I have it.

One of my colleagues, who was also a neighbor, was a master in the language. In the evenings, we would sit together and take out a random word, which we might not have come across, write the meaning in a book, and on subsequent days test each other with the memory. I learned quite a few words like this.

I had rarely used the Thesaurus, the Dictionary’s cousin if I may call it so, till I got interested in crosswords. Then I had to turn to this. It was a painstaking effort.

It has become so easy today, especially with touch screens. Find out the meaning without much effort. Touch, go to the Dictionary part, and find out.

The best way to understand the meaning is to know how it is being used in a sentence. One should be lucky enough to come across the word in whatever one reads.

Continued in 248 - Lost Way Guys - Part 1