Just browsing a blog I haven’t checked in a while and noticed an article on how to buy a dictionary. I’m not an expert myself though I have a fondness for such. My own approach is to have the Shorter Oxford (6th ed was published around Aug/Sept 2007) as my main reference; with the Macquarie Dictionary alongside it. I’ve not owned a Shorter for very long, so much of my life has been spent relying on the Macquarie. To some extent that suggests, at least 2 dictionaries is a good thing, an OED (or Shorter OED) combined with the main dictionary of the country you inhabit. That seems to work for me at least.

Hmmm…the main site for the Macquarie Dictionary seems to be down at the moment which means I can’t explore this wordmap of Australian regionalisms I’ve just stumbled across. Will have another go later; while I’m waiting I keep an eye on updates to worldcat.