Semantics

steve488

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There is always the contract used "definitization"..... I have always thought of it as a distortion of the root word "define" but maybe it is a distortion as in "de-finite..."

I accept I am no master of lawyer speak or contract speak :) But I agree about the butchering of our language.
I had an peer that was consistently using preventative (years ago and now it is an accepted distortion) so I asked them if they would like some constructative criticism on their destructative use of English.........It did not go well from there on.....
 

adorshki

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There is always the contract used "definitization"..... I have always thought of it as a distortion of the root word "define" but maybe it is a distortion as in "de-finite..."

I accept I am no master of lawyer speak or contract speak :) But I agree about the butchering of our language.
I had an peer that was consistently using preventative (years ago and now it is an accepted distortion) so I asked them if they would like some constructative criticism on their destructative use of English.........It did not go well from there on.....
There it is!
Was trying to remember that one this morning myself, because it IS yet another linquistic abortion that pops up on the newscasts regularly.
(That was "abomination" before autocorrupt got a-hold of it.)
(And when I was a kid news anchors could be trusted to be models of correct usage)
I trace that one back to the Crest commercials of the '60's when "dentrifice" gave everybody a mind-hiccup, as it immediately followed the correct use of "preventive":
hqdefault.jpg


:glee:

And has anybody heard "prophylastic" yet?

Don't worry, it's coming to a medium near you soon.
Or is that "Coming soon to a medium near you?"
 
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bluesypicky

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Yep.
"Try and..." is another annoying destructative distortion that made its way in everyday talk.
 

chazmo

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I think when you're talking about "occupational" language, if you will, that's fine. E.g., there are many words in the legal profession that were probably introduced originally to refer to something very specific. Ultimately, these words just obfuscate the documents in which you find them. This is not confined to law. My profession, software design, has its share of strange words. I remember railing on about "functionality" back in the day, but that word has become generally accepted. I also used to hate it when folks used "transition" as a verb. Mind you, that's essentially *all the time* in computer speak. Anyway, that too has become accepted.

My dad used to hate "deplane" (as in "get off the airplane"). Is that word generally accepted? I don't know, but the airlines continue to use it.

As for revisionist history... Indeed, Orwell really had a bead on that subject.
 

dapmdave

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I think when you're talking about "occupational" language, if you will, that's fine. E.g., there are many words in the legal profession that were probably introduced originally to refer to something very specific. Ultimately, these words just obfuscate the documents in which you find them. This is not confined to law. My profession, software design, has its share of strange words. I remember railing on about "functionality" back in the day, but that word has become generally accepted. I also used to hate it when folks used "transition" as a verb. Mind you, that's essentially *all the time* in computer speak. Anyway, that too has become accepted.

My dad used to hate "deplane" (as in "get off the airplane"). Is that word generally accepted? I don't know, but the airlines continue to use it.

As for revisionist history... Indeed, Orwell really had a bead on that subject.

Reminds me of an old George Carlin thing... Get ON the plane? I'd rather get IN the plane!
 

dreadnut

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"Obfuscate" is a great word.

Here's what I hate: No one needs to commit things to ink any more. They just blast out digital verbiage willy-nilly, no concern about accuracy. If it's found to be inaccurate later, we'll just delete it and publish something new, and the old misleading piece is gone with the wind, like it never existed.

piJOHLr.jpg
 

Westerly Wood

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"Obfuscate" is a great word.

Here's what I hate: No one needs to commit things to ink any more. They just blast out digital verbiage willy-nilly, no concern about accuracy. If it's found to be inaccurate later, we'll just delete it and publish something new, and the old misleading piece is gone with the wind, like it never existed.

piJOHLr.jpg

they are doing this with history books in public school too. erasing history. but if we don't learn it or know it existed in order not to offend people, we are doomed to repeat it.
 

dreadnut

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Then there's "gobbledygook," a term coined in the '60's:
language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; i.e., nonsense.
 

adorshki

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they are doing this with history books in public school too. erasing history. but if we don't learn it or know it existed in order not to offend people, we are doomed to repeat it.
I practice my offensive grammar daily.
Those who don't repeat the past are doomed to forget it.

Then there's "gobbledygook," a term coined in the '60's:
language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; i.e., nonsense.
You reminded me of another ironically appropriate term from the day, shades of Chaz's observation about programming as it applied to data analysis
GIGO for "Garbage In Garbage Out"
 
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walrus

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I use GIGO in my class! These kids think the Internet is all true!

walrus
 

fronobulax

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GIGO dates at least back to 1957. Fairly common among software producers and decision makers.
 

steve488

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COBOL gets a "break"...... cool - I think I still have the leftovers of a Fortran set of control cards someplace..... (yeah I know I date myself again!)
 

walrus

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I've sold COBOL coding sheets, punch cards, an early acoustic modem, and a few other gems on eBay. People collect the stuff, whereas I just want to forget about it...

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