What about Webster?
Sir:Auberon Waugh admirably summarises (15 September) the weaknesses of Collins English Dictionary (which only supplies sloppy modern usage) and the Oxford (which does not give current idiomatic usage). But he seems oddly reconciled to choosing between these equally unsatisfactory alternatives-as if, in his insular British world, he does not recognise the possibility that a publisher outside Britain might have done a better job.
My modestly priced Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, in fact, includes both the original and the current meanings of words such as jejune, anticipate, and the others that Mr Waugh mentions. Thus it would seem that Webster is a far better choice than either the hopelessly colloquial Collins, or the hopelessly dated Oxford. Even if Mr Waugh disapproves of American debasement of the English language, he might be broadminded enough to give credit to American lexicography.
Charles Platt 70 Ledbury Road London W11
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