As I’ve mentioned, I am not eschewing all digital media and technologies but I am noticing some patterns in the times when I opt for physical media. The most noticeable thing is that it is frequently born of frustration or discomfort. Too many ads, too many fees, and too much screen time comes to mind.
A couple months ago, I was sitting at my laptop doing some writing after a full eight hours of my day job where I also, you guessed it, sat in front of a laptop. I started to open another tab in my browser to add to my unwieldy collection of open tabs so I could go to Merriam-Webster’s site and find a synonym. And I couldn’t do it. I was just so tired of staring at a screen. I went into the living room and pulled out my dusty thesaurus that I have had since 1997. While I was down there, I pulled out the adjacent dictionary that I have had just as long. I don’t remember what word I wanted a synonym for but I do remember that in the act of looking up the word and seeing the adjacent words, I thought of something else entirely to write that I liked even better. Using my physical reference books allows for serendipity and inspiration in a way that looking a word up online rarely, if ever, does.
My Random House Webster’s College Dictionary definitely has some wear and tear so let’s go on a little visual trip through it. When I first grabbed it off the shelf, I noticed that I had a bunch of faded sticky notes in it and I couldn’t recall why.
It turns out, at some point (or multiple points) I went through parts of my dictionary and marked where there were helpful tables. Some are still helpful today but others are less-so, such as this table of currency pre-Euro, which came into play in 1999.
I felt a twinge in my chest when I saw this table of planets that still includes Pluto. Pluto will always be a planet in my heart.
I also found a couple small marks which I hesitate to call annotations. The first is from one of the top 10 moments in my life: I found a typo in the dictionary.
The second is this. I don’t know why I did this. No idea.
I figure after almost 30 years, I could use a new dictionary. This older one is too much fun to get rid of but I did order the new Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary that came out in November 2025. But then I’ve been reading a book that has a number of words that are new to me. I try to have boundaries around phone use before bedtime, which is my typical reading time, so I definitely don’t want to grab my phone to look up a word; however, I also think it’s kinda silly to have an entire dictionary in the bed. So I ordered a smaller, mass-market dictionary. Much to my chagrin, the majority of words I need to look up are Big Dictionary words, not little dictionary words. The little dictionary didn’t have words like ‘bolthole’ or ‘muzzily’ or at least a half-dozen others I tried to look up that I have since forgotten.
Will we become a two Big Dictionary household? Or will I just start hauling my one Big Dictionary from room to room? Looking things up on my phone is still not an option not only for reasons I have mentioned but I’m actually having fun poking around in the dictionaries, new and old.
I definitely ordered a new thesaurus, too, which is waiting for me at the bookstore.
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