Good Dictionaries
C.H. of Uni ‘76 says:
I would recommend the Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate as a good (cheap) standard dictionary for those descriptivists among us (the big 2nd and 3rd Internationals from the same publisher are good, too, but really BIGGGGG). Random House’s 2nd Unabridged is pretty great, too, and kind of encyclopedic to boot. And the American Heritage collegiate is the only one to have when you’re prescribing usage for more than one word. They’re the William Safire of lexicographers.