Helen FieldsScience Writer

Last night I needed the Italian-English dictionary off the shelf of language dictionaries on the other side of the living room. Not coincidentally, I also needed to do a little procrastinating, so I decided to find out how many dictionaries I own. The current count is 31, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some more lurking in my apartment somewhere.

Some people have a drinking problem or a porcelain figurine problem; I have a dictionary problem. I just like them, and once they make it in the door, they never leave. They all seem like reasonable purchases at the time. I got one Norwegian dictionary when I first started learning Norwegian, then a better one the last time I was in Norway (the best place to buy Norwegian dictionaries), and yeah, if I came across another one in a used book store, I’d probably buy it.

So I posted my total on Facebook – remember, I was procrastinating – and asked for friends’ numbers. Carley, a translator, owns 60, mostly Russian and German. Debbie used to study Old Norse, of all things, so that’s on the shelf in her daughter’s bedroom. Holli, a grad student, makes up for a relative paucity of dictionaries at home with online access to the OED (jealous). Lots of friends chimed in, listing their collections and discussing whether usage guides and phrasebooks count. (No.)

All this dictionary talk got me thinking about the stories behind my collection. So, with all that in mind, I introduce a new blog feature: Dictionary of the Week.

From left, on the shelf above my desk: book I never look at; 1974 Webster’s; medical; book I never look at; Japanese-English; Fowler’s 1st ed.; French-English; Norwegian-English; 1991 Webster’s; German-English; Fowler’s 2nd ed. No, I didn’t count Fowler’s in the 31, even if it does have “dictionary” in the title, because that would be breaking the anti-usage-guide rule. I will probably break that rule to blog about Fowler’s, though, because I love Fowler’s.