🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <DJCFt2.GGG@byron.net4.io.org>, acli@byron.net4.io.org (Ambrose Li) writes:
<In article <4a8j53INNraa@JAGUAR.ZOO.CS.YALE.EDU>,
<Scott Horne <horne-scott@cs.yale.edu> wrote:
<
<>Many dictionaries follow the arrangement of the _Kang1 Xi1 zi4dian3_, which
<>specifies 214 radicals.  Unfortunately, many editors combine some of the
<>similarly shaped and less-frequently used ones (for example, 22 and 23, or
<>34 and 35) for the convenience of the ignorant reader, thus throwing off
<>the numbering.
<
<I have never seen dictionaries from Hong Kong combining radicals,

My _Zhong1hua2 xin1 zi4dian3_ and _Shang1wu4 xin1 ci2dian3_, which are from
Hong Kong, combine Nos 34 and 35.

<but you can also find some dictionaries swapping the ordering of
<some radicals, making the ordering unreliable.

Yes, this is true.  _Zhong1hua2 xin1 zi4dian3_ swaps Nos 1 and 3.

<>Do not expect the "pronunciations" given in some dictionaries to be of
<>any value.  This is true even of those radicals that are proper characters.
<>Most people know that 
<>
<>	 -----
<>	 |___|
<>	-------
<>	|  |  |
<>	-------
<>	|______/
[...]
<
<Ah, I agree that many of the radicals are not characters (or have ceased
<to be characters), but this particular one is in fact a really bad example,
<since it *is* a real word, meaning "city",

Please reread what I wrote:  "This is true even of those radicals that are
proper characters."

<and in case you don't know, it
<is, though archaic, still in use (at least in novels).

I'm aware of that.

<With respect to the pronunciatons not being meaningful, I semi-agree.
<But let's look at the "latin" alphabet. Say, given the ss-ligature
<(long s + normal s), or the thorn, or the eth, if no one tells you
<that it is called an eszett, or a thorn, or an eth, do you know they
<are thus called?

Of course not.  And if no one had told me what _g_ is called, I wouldn't
know that, either.

<If you flip through the new pocket-sized student dictionaries from
<Hong Kong, you will see that they all now use IPA and indicate how
<the radicals are to be pronounced.

The two dictionaries I mentioned don't even have entries, let alone
pronunciations, for all the radicals.  Let's see:  Nos 2, 3, 4, 6,
8, 10, 13, 14....

					--Scott