More useful programs; WordWeb - The FREE Dictionary/ Thesaurus

Ever get the feeling when cruising the WWW that grammar and vocabulary tragically passed away when the internet became mainstream?

It has gotten so bad that Ministers etc (as I said before, I'm not really following that scene, I just steal the occasional glance at a newspaper) are debating the death of linguistics, and requesting that companies stop using the Franco-Arabic language in advertisements (thats the 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 amidst English lettering).

To be honest, I dont understand that language half the time, and end up feeling like a redneck hillbilly with 0 enunciation skills, I posted a while ago a picture I took on the 2nd Ring Road, and I had no idea what it read (thanks to the readers for pointing it out).

Also, there are a bunch of people who tend to over-articulate; instead of saying something like my stomach hurts, they'd say I have pains in my intestines, stuff like that.

Maybe I'm being all high and mighty, but there should be a common ground between those two. I detest reading things like "ur welcum" (obvious reasons), and the abbreviation of good into "gud" is just plain ignorant, and highly stupid. Good = 4 letters, Gud = 3 letters, is that REALLY an abbreviation? I'd accept gd even!

I digress, as always.

The program I wish to share this time (this coming after my announcement of wanting to be the Sports Page of Kuwait, now I am PC User Magazine) is WordWeb, a free (emphasis on free, i love freeware, I stopped using cracked software a long time ago for reasons that are not clear to me [zonealarm]) PC-based dictionary/thesaurus that is the solution to all your vocabulary woes (its even compatible with the iPhone!).

WordWeb is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows that can look up words in almost any program. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include:

Definitions and synonyms
Related words
5000 audio pronunciations
65 000 text pronunciations
150 000 root words
120 000 synonym sets
Look up words in almost any program

Once its installed (from here) all you need to do is hit Ctrl+Alt+W on any word you are wanting to understand better or even spell properly (you can highlight it or just keep the blinking word cursor near it) and WordWeb will translate/ correct it for you in a separate window. It even has the option of enunciation, showing you how to properly pronounce the word in question.

I use it alot, so much so that when I am on a friends PC and come across a word I do not understand, I immediately hit Ctrl+Alt+W and wait, only to realise that WordWeb is not installed there.

:D