News

My everyday dictionary defines a gadget as ‘a small mechanical device or tool’, whereas an upmarket equivalent volume adds the words ‘especially an ingenious or novel one’. It appears that the two definitions would benefit from modernisation, or revision at least, because most of the gadgets that I encounter nowadays seem to be electronic, rather than mechanical. Frankly I am not attracted to gadgets. They often seem pointless and without practical worth, though compulsive for feeble minds.

Conversely I must guard against complacency, as I have become very enamoured with, even reliant upon, an electronic
version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary packaged by Seiko into a hand-held or palm-top device. It was more than seven years ago that my daughter gave me the contraption which I accepted somewhat haughtily swearing that the book version of the dictionary would remain supreme. My daughter is now teaching in the Dominican Republic and will not be aware of the ensuing confession that the electronic gadget has stealthily overtaken the book as the initial point of reference.

If that is not bad enough, the pesky instrument contains an impressive thesaurus, spell checker, crossword solver, phrase search, games (that I have assiduously ignored), and even an arithmetical calculator.

As the device is a work of reference, the amount of text to be scrutinised at any given moment is small making the tiny display screen adequate, though a fuller text would be uncomfortable to access by scrolling. Nonetheless I am tempted to consult the doctor to inoculate me against succumbing to other gadgets. Prejudices can be cosy and reassuring at times and have the added advantage of infuriating technophiles.

Lawrence Wallis held international pre-press marketing positions and was a respected author and print historian.