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> What worries me is not so much the CREATION of these new words, but the fact
> that they rapidly gain currency, particularly among those who "should know
> better." If a neologism gains sufficient strength to hang around for a while
> and to appear in some "respected" publications, it will eventually wind up
> in a dictionary (which is, after all, a history of language). ...
As it should. Change is ineveitable, and dictionaries must recognise it.
Compare a current dictionary to the original OED, written early in the 20th
century. The OED defines "computer" as a variety of clerk specialising in
calculation and does not have "transistor", "radar" or "television", let
alone "televangelist".
For me, the questions are whether the word construction makes sense and
whether the result is useful. For example, I find "disambiguate" and
"prepend" perfectly acceptable, at least in the appropriate technical
contexts. I cannot find a better way to handle either concept.
What drives me to distraction is the misuse of technical terminology
by people trying to sound impressive.
One painfully common example is "negative re-enforcement" used by
someone who means "punishment" but thinks the other term sounds better
and is blissfully unaware that it means something completely different.
Many uses of "feedback" are nonsensical. Methinks if you don't have at
least a general idea what the term means in cybernetics (control system
engineering) where it originated, then you shouldn't risk using it.
... and so on.
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