I suspect fewer than 1% of British people own any paper English-language dictionary, but the sort of people who need a dictionary beyond what dictionary.com can offer will have online access through their employer, their institution, their local UK public library, or for the princely sum of £8/m for a personal account when paying annually.
Regardless, the authority that the OED holds on British English is best understood through the criticism section of it on Wikipedia, with people decrying its absolutely overwhelming influence:
> criticizing the OED is extremely difficult because "one is dealing not just with a dictionary but with a national institution", one that "has become, like the English monarchy, virtually immune from criticism in principle"
I suspect fewer than 1% of British people own any paper English-language dictionary, but the sort of people who need a dictionary beyond what dictionary.com can offer will have online access through their employer, their institution, their local UK public library, or for the princely sum of £8/m for a personal account when paying annually.
Regardless, the authority that the OED holds on British English is best understood through the criticism section of it on Wikipedia, with people decrying its absolutely overwhelming influence:
> criticizing the OED is extremely difficult because "one is dealing not just with a dictionary but with a national institution", one that "has become, like the English monarchy, virtually immune from criticism in principle"