{"id":2268,"date":"2010-03-07T15:02:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T21:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2010-03-07T15:02:27","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T21:02:27","slug":"the-most-unusual-dictionary-i-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/2010\/03\/07\/the-most-unusual-dictionary-i-own\/","title":{"rendered":"The most unusual dictionary I own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/content\/nsa-dictionary-cover-512.png\" alt=\"Cover of National Security Agency Japanese-English Technical Terms Dictionary, Volume I\" width=\"512\" height=\"650\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back before every translator worth his salt had an always-on, high-speed Internet connection, we had to be more self-reliant in the way of reference sources. So we bought dictionaries. Lots of dictionaries. When I lived in Japan, I&#8217;d stop in Jimbocho at least once a month. There was a used bookstore that specialized in technical and scientific books, and I&#8217;d buy dictionaries there on the off chance that someday I would translate something relevant.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I still have most of those dictionaries. I hardly ever refer to them\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe shelf they occupy doesn&#8217;t see a lot of action, simply because I can usually find more current and more relevant references online. Having them around is a professional security blanket.<\/p>\n<p>This one is different. For one thing, I bought it in Chicago, at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.librarything.com\/venue\/37969\/Bookmans-Corner\">Bookman&#8217;s Corner<\/a>, a used bookstore that I am surprised but happy to discover is still in business. The place is archetypal\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnarrow aisles with shelves overflowing onto the floor, a musty stink, and a clerk engaged in a Very Important Discussion with a patron. I found this three-volume collection on one of those overflowing piles priced at $7.50. I had only gone in there to browse, hardly expecting to find anything like this. Even though I had no particular use for it, it took me no time to decide to buy it.<\/p>\n<p>The dictionary itself was published in 1957 by the National Security Agency, &#8220;a reissue of TM 30-482 First Published by the War Department, November 1946.&#8221; The whole thing was set on a typewriter, with every Japanese headword written by hand, comb bound, and in two volumes of about 500 pages each, plus a 200-page addendum lacking handwritten Japanese.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a sample of an interior page<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/content\/nsa-dictionary-p295-512.png\" alt=\"sample of interior page of NSA dictionary\" title=\"nsa-dictionary-p295-512\" width=\"512\" height=\"683\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2270\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back before every translator worth his salt had an always-on, high-speed Internet connection, we had to be more self-reliant in the way of reference sources. So we bought dictionaries. Lots of dictionaries. When I lived in Japan, I&#8217;d stop in Jimbocho at least once a month. There was a used bookstore that specialized in technical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-translation","tag-dictionary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8stars.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}