Released on: 31, December 1969
, Author: Brother Aviaf
, Audience: Internet related
nburg MA -- October 10, 2007 -- Most witches, Wiccans,Druids, wizards, sorcerers and ceremonial magicians these days are pretty muchself-taught, either through books, or on the internet. But on those occasions whenthey get together with others of their ilk, they are too frequently unsure of thepronunciations of words common to their crafts, sometimes leading to discomfort orembarrassment. In 2005, a small group of Massachusetts pagans came up with an idea for a free,online, pronunciation dictionary- a talking dictionary of occult and neopagan words. The technology was there, the bandwidth was available (although the specialconstruction of the dictionary makes it usable on even relatively slow connections),and the need was there. According to Brother Aviaf, of the Pagan Talking Dictionary Project, there wasnothing online like the dictionary they envisioned- just a few sites here and there,doing their best to help out on the web. Information was often contradictory.Frequently, incorrect information was repeated, confusing newcomers. The groupfigured if they could just "find a home" for their dictionary, that they couldfigure out the mechanics required to implement it. Then serendipity intervened. The Stone Pentacle offered to provide hosting and spacefor the dictionary, in return for the ever-popular "promotional consideration". Theright recording equipment and technologies appeared as if, well, by magick. Buryingthemselves in the methods of linguists, the group researched pronunciations ofWelsh, Celtic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Egyptian (and many other) words. They becameamateur etymologists, and semanticists. And they asked a lot of questions. They figured if they could work out an easy to use, easy to understand method ofpresenting unfamiliar pronunciations, that they could provide a fabulous service tothe neopagan community. And after two years, thousands of lines of HTML, JavaScript,and PHP code later, they seem to have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.The Pagan Talking Dictionary, on the web athttp://www.thestonepentacle .com/project/dictionary.html (or just Google "PaganTalking Dictionary") is the result of their efforts. The most unique feature of thedictionary is that when a user passes their mouse-pointer over a syllable in a word,the syllable actually seems to 'swell-up' as its pronounced. The result is afoolproof mechanism for learning to pronounce even the most complex words. Thisunusual, Dictionary that Speaks can only be truly appreciated by trying it out foryourself. Oh, and be sure to have a happy Halloween, or as the Wiccans say, Samhain (pronounced SOW-when!)
Source: Express-Press-Release.com
