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>Then Dick Margulis wrote:
>". . .Merriam-Webster states in the frontmatter to all of their dictionaries that you cannot draw this conclusion when alternate spellings are separated by _or_. If there is a main entry followed by the word _also_ and then another spelling, the first spelling is more common."
>
>Dick:
>I hadn't realized variant spellings were categorized by the dictionary's use of "or" and "also." Thanks to you, I learned something today. Now maybe I'm being dense but my government-issue Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary
front matter says "or" is used to indicate "the two forms are in almost equally frequent use. . ." while the variant following "also" indicates the less preferred variant "when there is a distinct preference for one variant."
Martha,
I collect dictionaries casually, not comprehensively; so I don't have a New Riverside University Dictionary. However, my remarks pertained only to Merriam-Webster dictionaries. Different lexicographers take different approaches to this question. Nonetheless, I don't see a huge distinction in this case between your dictionary's approach and M-W's approach (maybe a tiny, subtle difference, but just barely).
Did I miss something?
Dick
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