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Re: I need help with Functionality versus Function
Subject:Re: I need help with Functionality versus Function From:Doug Parr <dougparr -at- INTEGRITYONLINE9 -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 15 Jul 1998 20:03:07 -0600
Oh, oh, Vickie. Sounds like you have a pointy-haired boss. Check out a good
dictionary, which is to say a prescriptive, rather than descriptive,
dictionary.
A prescriptive dictionary (like American Heritage) prescribes how to use
words correctly. It's a writer's best friend. A descriptive dictionary (Like
Webster's Collegiate) describes how professors, louts, and barbarians use
words, with no judgment of correct or incorrect usage. It has little use for
someone who wants to write correctly.
Your prescriptive dictionary will show:
"Function" is a noun or verb.
"Functional" is an adjective.
"Functionally" is an adverb.
"Functionality" is a junk word invented by marketers back in the mid-'80s.
They seem to use it to mean "utility," but you'll never get a marketer to
admit it. It lives in the same chrome-plated shanty as "viable" (used to
mean workable), "action" (used as a verb), and "transition" (used as a
verb).
