Dictionaries & Thrift Stores

Dictionaries are wonderful things. I still have the one given to me by Marion Schultz for my high school graduation. I primarily use a dictionary to make sure that I am using a word correctly. Like I used untoward in an e-mail reply going to a bunch of astronomers. I didn't want to look like an idiot so I used my dictionary to double check myself. The dictionary of course is a multifunctional tool. Like if you go into the back it has other stuff like abbreviation, arbitrary signs and symbols, my signs & symbols usually involve a finger, proofreader's marks, biographical names, a pronouncing gazetteer, common English given names and even more. My name means "who is like God". Fits me perfectly. But I do have a problem with the dictionary. What if you don't know how to spell the word. You can spend a lot of time looking for a word you don't know how to spell. So was the dictionary designed to help you spell words or know their meaning? And what's with all the other stuff in there? My favorite dictionary is an old two volume job that I got for a couple of bucks in a thrift store. I have been going to thrift stores since a buddy of mine introduced them to me back when I was in the army around 1977. I figure thrift stores have saved me about a gazillion dollars( is that how to spell it?). My wife has more clothes and shoes than Imelda Marcos and I would say that 99% came from thrift stores. I wear Hawaiian shirts. They all come from thrift stores for about $3 each. I love getting a bargain. It's my frugal Irish side. We go to one in Green Valley called the White Elephant. We call it the dead people store. It is full stuff that is donated by old peoples kids that come to clean out their house when their parents have died. Man I'll tell you those old people really buy quality stuff. I wonder what will happen to my stuff when I die? God know's I have lots of stuff.