Can anybody work this out?

Zab

I was just looking up the cost of the 20 Volume Set of the Oxford English Dictionary ( not that I was seriously considering buying one ) when I came across something interesting.

Have a look at this page :

Then have a look at the 20 vol set under UK and Europe.

Then go back and have a look at the same under United States.

I realise things are a bit cheaper in the states, but £1100 seems a bit much!

Khynareth

It is, but it is still the price of books like that. I'm sure you could get the CD copy of the 20 Vol. for much cheaper though, with the exact same content.
These books are for collectors I would say...
Although I'd loveto have them for myself.... Purrrrr.

SweetBirdOfTruth

it's because of the difference between american english and english english spelling, innit? i mean them americans spell through thru, don't they? that's a helluva saving in printing costs if you follow it across the whole lexicon.

Monkey

It's not that they use less letters for god's sake! books in general I have found are alot cheaper to buy in America

davros

Originally posted by Monkey
books in general I have found are alot cheaper to buy in America

Not academic texts, though, which are a lot more expensive (about $100 a pop).

For the OED, what you want is online access (assuming your interest is the content and not the smell of the leather binding - mmmm). It's too expensive for a personal subscription but a PC in a university library would have it.

To answer the US/British English comment, the full OED is intended to reflect usage of English wherever she is spoke - US, Irish, Singaporean, whatever.

The dictionary as it stands is very out-of-date and is really only useful as a history of the language. But it is slowly being updated, word-by-word, and changes are made continuously to the online edition. That's why I recommend the online version.

Also, you can do very interesting searches online, or on CD. For example, find all the words of Malay origin.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by SweetBirdOfTruth
that's a helluva saving in printing costs if you follow it across the whole lexicon.

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!