7.0423 Rs: OEDs (2); Literary Journal; Moses (4/90)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:25:56 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0423. Monday, 17 Jan 1994.


(1) Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 22:57 PST (43 lines)
From: Jack Kolb <IKW4GWI@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 7.0410 Rs: OED (3/40)

(2) Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 17:59:46 EST (6 lines)
From: "LEE A. JACOBUS" <JACOBUS@UCONNVM>
Subject: Re: 7.0402 Qs: Literary Journal; Time Flies (2/70)

(3) Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:27:02 IST (28 lines)
From: "David M. Schaps" <F21004@BARILVM>
Subject: 7.0412 Rs: Moses and Horns

(4) Date: Mon, 17 JAN 94 17:08:59 GMT (18 lines)
From: RGLYNN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK
Subject: OED and CD-ROMs

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 22:57 PST
From: Jack Kolb <IKW4GWI@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 7.0410 Rs: OED (3/40)

There is some confusion here that perhaps I can clarify. Mary Ellen Foley's
previous post spoke of the "Compact OED of Modern English" on CD-ROM
(together with a number of other worthy texts). Everyone else is talking
about the 2nd edition of the complete OED on CD-ROM. I believe everyone
is correct in their respective evaluations of the two disks: I have both.
The Compact OED is on one called "The Oxford English Reference Library,"
and it does have a less than desirable interface, though not perhaps quite
as bad as Ms. Foley suggests. It seems to be pushed by IBM; it advertizes
itself as for use with OS/2 as well as the IBM Bookmanager, and is available
from IBM via direct mail for about $140, though I have seen it advertized
in a film catalog for $30 (contact me privately for details). The latter
is not a bad price, even with the cumbersome protocol, for a disk containing
the Oxford Thesaurus, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, the Oxford
Dictionary of Modern Quotations, the Revised English Bible, Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland and the Complete Works of Shakespeare (presumably
the new Oxford edition--the documentation, which is pitiful, does not say),
among other things.

The OED2 is quite another thing, as others have suggested: the Windows
version is far superior to the first (rather clumsy and buggy) CD version
for DOS, even for those like me who don't like Windows. It isn't cheap--
about $900 + postage and handling--but it's a wonderful tool if you can
afford it.

Jack Kolb
IKW4GWI@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU




(2) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 17:59:46 EST
From: "LEE A. JACOBUS" <JACOBUS@UCONNVM>
Subject: Re: 7.0402 Qs: Literary Journal; Time Flies (2/70)

I believe Stanley calls it THE BEN JONSON JOURNAL. I just spoke with him at ML
A about the journal. Good luck in checking on this.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------35----
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:27:02 IST
From: "David M. Schaps" <F21004@BARILVM>
Subject: 7.0412 Rs: Moses and Horns

I have no doubt that Moses' horns are indeed due to the mistrans-
lation of Ex. 34.29-35, have nothing to do with cuckoldry, and nothing
to do with his being a Jew (Aaron, for example, never has them).
Nevertheless, since exclamations seem to have been made about the
"medieval" belief that Jews have horns, allow me to assure the e-world
that the belief is alive and well. A friend was once informed by a
girl that he couldn't be a Jew, "because you leave your head uncovered,
and I can see that you haven't got horns." She was speaking in perfect
seriousness. "I had them surgically removed," said my friend. It is
not the only case that has come to my attention, only the one I
remember at the moment.
I am only guessing, but I suppose that Jews' alleged horns come
from the belief that Jews are demons or close to them; and demons'
horns are there because of their bestial associations, and presumably
because of satyrs (who were taken as equivalent to the "se'irim" --
literally goats, but used of some sort of idolatrous
deity -- of the Bible), who had horns, as far as I know, before
the Greeks knew who the Jews were.

David M. Schaps
Department of Classical Studies
Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan, Israel
FAX: 972-3-347-601
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------31----
Date: Mon, 17 JAN 94 17:08:59 GMT
From: RGLYNN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK
Subject: OED and CD-ROMs


Re: OUP and CD-ROMs

Mary Ellen Foley has confused the OED2 on CD-ROM, published by
Oxford University Press, with a CD-ROM published by IBM which
includes a number of OUP copyright titles. OUP merely licensed
these titles to IBM. The retrieval software and the publication
are IBM's; they are nothing to do with OUP and cannot be
ordered from us.

Ruth Glynn
Managing Editor
Electronic Publishing, OUP