Is it really helpful to tell a user to look something up in a dictionary?

Question

I have noticed in many comments to questions regarding single word usage in particular sentence or phrase that a user with high reputation will say something that ultimately boils down to "use a dictionary". At times it can be downright sarcastic or rude to the OP.

Is this type of comment useful? Are we to assume that a question poster does not know what a dictionary is?

Would not be better to provide an answer, even if it is a simple answer? Perhaps after a direct answer is given one could expand on the theory of the word usage if they are so inclined.

Answer 1

No Stack Exchange site is a tutorial service.
No Stack Exchange site is a research service.
No Stack Exchange site is a substitute for looking in a standard reference work.

I propose that any question which does not show elementary research be closed in short order. The current close reason contains enough detail to explain what can be done to improve the question:

Please include the research you've done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic.

Very often, there's a comment recommending recourse to a dictionary or other such commonly-available reference; and the closure banner links to a useful list at What good reference works on English are available?

Now, the question might arise as to how to decide between summary closure and a migration to ELL, since that path has been opened. That decision tree starts with the fundamental consideration "Is this a good question?" and its supplementary assistants, "Does this show research? Is the question clear? Does the asker actually understand what they are asking about?" That last one means is there some understanding of what the actual problem is, not what the answer is, of course.

If the question shows some understanding, but it's couched in terms which indicate that the OP is actually a learner (for example, mention of SAT or GRE, but other indications may appear) then it's a reasonable question for ELL. It could be migrated.

It may be that if a question is improved in order that it can be reopened, it's actually reopened and then migrated to ELL. But at least it will be a good question which is migrated. Bad questions should not be migrated; nor should they be answered. They should be improved before anything happens, and being put on hold is the way to ensure that things are done in the right order.

This may mean that the question box sidebar needs to be changed again.

Currently it says this:

Is your question about using English?

We prefer questions that can be answered, not just discussed.

• Provide details.

• Share your research.

If your question is about learning English, ask it on ELL instead.

If your question is about this website, ask it on meta instead.

visit the help center »
asking help »

However, that would appear to support the proposal that any question which does not show elementary research be closed in short order. And if additional comments help to point the OP in the right direction, so much the better.

Answer 2

Don't regard "Did you look that up in a dictionary?" as a rude question. Take it at face value. It's a hint, a prompt.

Either the O.P. used a dictionary first, or not.

If not, a dictionary should have been consulted first. (Probably a few dictionaries, actually.)

If so, then results from that prior research should have been included, summarized, or at least mentioned in the question. Potentially, that can serve a few functions:

• It demonstrates prior research was done, which in turn helps ward off negative comments and downvotes.
• It helps people reading the question better understand where the O.P. is coming from, and where the confusion lies.
• It saves people who want to answer the question a trip to the dictionary themselves.
• It prevents the answers from going in several different directions that the O.P. doesn't want by clarifying what the question is really asking about.

In short, it's not a rude question, it's a fair question.

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There's two sides to the rudeness coin. Personally, I think there's a degree of "rudeness" when a question is skimpy on details and scant on research. It's like saying, “I just want an answer to my question. I don't want to have to do any work myself, or put any effort into this. Everyone should just be able to figure out by osmosis what I already know, and what I still need to figure out.”

By the way, there's a reason I put "rudeness" in scare quotes. I don't think most new users are really being "rude" – certainly not intentionally. We live in an online society filled with tweets and snarky comments, where brevity is valued and thoughtful deliberateness is shrugged off. Newcomers to the Stack Exchange often don't realize that this site strives to be differernt.

Every help page on SE starts with:

We're a little bit different from other sites.

and exorts new users to:

Include details about what you have tried and exactly what you are trying to do.
^{(emphasis added)}

In a language forum, that "details about what you have tried" part means, “Did you look this up? What did you search for? What did you find?” – particularly when the question is primarily about the meaning of words or phrases.

As for how to pull this off and write good questions, I've already written about this in an answer to an ELL meta question. And ELL is probably where most "ESL students, general non-English speaking persons seeking clarification" should ask their questions – but that's another matter entirely.