Forensic Evidence 2: Bedwetting

Yes, I do. Steve's book does say it was the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, but not the edition. Comparing any other dictionary -even another Webster's will not work because the word selection, book size and type face used would be different.

 

Then why are we all wasting space here?

 

The ransom note is theatrical, as was Patsy in the 911 call, as was Patsy in inviting people to the house, as was the treatment of the body, as was leaving the washed down flashlight out in the open, as was leaving the bowl of pineapple and milk out ... ad nauseum. Marking the dictionary in such a way is typical of the afore mentioned pattern.

Just what other tidbits did Patsy leave behind that the bungleboys (and girls) in Boulder Blue overlook?

 

In other words, Paradox, Patsy was playing games (?). It's a wonder she never phoned up her buddy Susan Stine, the game player, who would have helped her a great deal.

 

I for one don't feel like we're wasting space.
Who knows what little tidbit of info could reveal something--something that's been overlooked for the past 10 years? :idea: Gawd knows weirder things than that have happened with this case. :box:
Sue is right on.Steve specifically mentioned The New Collegiate Dictionary and that imo is important. As Sue said, that edition of that dictionary is of a certain size and that is important when dog-earred pages are referred to in the police report.

 

Here's another part of the description from Amazon.com (from the description of the 10th edition
The 1998 10th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary marks the 100th anniversary of this distinguished and popular reference standard, and this is more than just an interesting statistic--it means that Merriam-Webster brings years of experience and reams of citation files to the creation of this latest edition. Improving on their last dictionary, they've added more than 100 pictorial illustrations and supplemented the synonym paragraphs with examples. Along with the English dictionary, which forms the heart of the reference, the editors at Merriam-Webster have included a brief introduction to the English language and a history of the English dictionary, a guide to pronunciation, and a series of appendices that include chemical element abbreviations and symbols, foreign words and phrases, extensive sections with biographical and geographical names, signs and symbols, and a handbook of style.
But getting back to the book itself--it's impressively comprehensive for a collegiate dictionary, with more than 215,000 definitions. Each item includes a pithy wealth of information, with first usage date, etymology, and pronunciation, and clear, precise definitions. In addition, there are often usage notes, synonym cross-references, illustrative quotations, variant spellings and pronunciations, regional labels, and information on capitalization, function, and inflections. Then there are the extra touches. Under bible, for example, there's a chart detailing books of the Old Testament, Jewish Scripture, Protestant apocrypha, and books of the New Testament. Under months is a table listing the months of the principal calendars--Gregorian, Jewish, and Islamic. And wonderful line drawings illustrate terms such as mackerel, lyrebird, hedgehog, and the ancient Celtic stringed instrument known as a crowd. All this makes it a valuable reference--detailed enough for editors and writers, accessible enough for students and casual definition seekers, updated with the new vocabulary of technology, and rigorous enough for the linguistic perfectionists. --Stephanie Gold

From Library Journal
Despite a change in title, this volume supersedes Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1983) as the latest in a nearly 100-year-old line of college desk diction aries from Merriam-Webster. New editions in this series have appeared about every ten years since 1898.


In my 9th Edition of the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, it says on the title page 'principal copyright 1983", but my individual printing of the 9th edition says "Copyright 1991 by Merriam-Webster".
Also, on the dust jacket, it says "More than 11,000,000 hardcover copies of the Eighth Edition of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary were sold in the ten years it was in print. Now, with the Ninth Edition, Merriam-Webster brings you the very latest in this best selling tradition."

I don't know what changes there would be between the different copyright printings of the same edition, but I would expect a 1983 printed Ninth Edition would be pretty similar to a 1991 Ninth Edition.

 

In my Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary published/copyright 1991, it is the same.