shownotes_MCM20100802

Dictionary Tricks
  Mac OS X comes with a built-in dictionary and app.
  Basis of the built in spell checking that is available to ALL Cocoa applications
  There are spelling options in MOST apps
    Edit-->Spelling. You can run the Spelling and Grammar checking on a document
    Turn on or off the "Check Spelling While Typing" feature.
      If a word is underlined Control+Click it to get suggested spelling and select the correct spelling to have it auto-corrected.
      You can also add common non-dictionary words that you may type a lot. Control+Clicking the red-underlined word and choosing "Learn Spelling"
Looking up words
  Control+Click or right+click a word almost anywhere and you'll see a "Look Up in Dictionary" option.
    Depending on the Dictionary settings you'll either launch the Dictionary app or get a contextual panel.
      If you see the contextual pane clicking the "more…" button will open the entry in Dictionary.
    May need to highlight the work before Control+Clicking it to see the option
    May find the "Look Up In Dictionary" option under the "Services" menu.
      If you don't check System Preferences-->Keyboard and in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab in the 'Services' category look under 'Searching' section and make sure the "Look Up In Dictionary" item is checked.
    Hold Command+Control+D and hover over a word to see the definition in a contextual panel.
    Use Spotlight to get a definition
      Hover over the definition in the search results of the menubar search or click it to open that word in the Dictionary app.
Inside the Dictionary
  Despite the fact that it shows the phonetic syntax of the word when you select it and copy+paste it pastes just the word without all the extra phonetic punctuation
  Clicking any word within a definition will give you the definition of that word.
    Once you drill down within a definition the search area will contain an orange "snap back" icon. Click that to return to the original definition.
  Dictionary also offers:
    A Thesaurus, Apple Dictionary, and Wikipedia
      Same drill down and snapback works there too.
  Front/Back Matter
    Accessed via the Go menu
    Offers things like a Language Guide, List of Presidents of the United States, text of the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, Countries of the World, and listing of the Chemical Elements.
Image plates fro viewing
  In the Finder go to the Go menu and choose Go To Folder…
  Enter '/Library/Dictionaries/New Oxford American Dictionary.dictionary/Contents/Images' and hit "Go"
  Switch to Coverflow view and you will see all the image plate for the Dictionary app illustrations.
Credit goes to
  Dave Caolo (Sal-lo) for writing most of these u pin a TUAW 101 article about a year ago.
Closing
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