The reasons for the tendency might come down to they are literally intelligent people. So tongue in cheek.
"Orientate"
Hi Jer,
Yes, "orientate" bothers me, as well as "cohabitate." This is like a dam bursting!! Or will be, once all those pesky words that people misuse come gushing forth. Right now, the best ones are eluding me (of course!.
Ailsa
What really bugs me about orientate is that it's now a word because of common misuse. It's kind of like saying "presentate" instead of "present" or "presentated" instead of "presented".
This is so true
Hi Jer,
So true! I find that February is always an irritating month because it seems that so many pronounce it "FEB-u-ary." As if there were only one "r" in the word! But little by little, it would seem that these objectionable words are finding their way into acceptable vocabulary.
What about the word "preventive?" My Webster's says it came into usage around 1639. It says the word "preventative" came into usage around 1654 and that the two words are synonymous. I wonder why "preventative" was even invented-- wasn't "preventive" enough? I'm sure there's an interesting story about it somewhere.
Now for something I like: I have read that it used to be the norm to pronounce the last syllable of a verb's past tense. Take the word "punished"-- it used to be pronounced "pun-ish-shed." No more, of course, but certain words ("beloved" is all I can think of offhand) are still pronounced with the final syllable. I like that because it provides a link between NOW and THEN and makes me think that it wasn't so long ago after all. And I like the fact that many of our words were spoken in Shakespeare's time-- some of them even invented by the Bard!! And these words have kept their meaning over the centuries. I hope it continues.
Ailsa
Good one on preventative - not one that I ever really use or think about so I hadn't entered it into the "orientate" category.
I have now.
Jer....I think the British use "orientated "
and North Americans "oriented".....
I dislike seck a tree (secretary).
