Letters to the Editor
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"Incentivize"
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
"New verbs in -ize. A feature of the second Elizabethan age, as of the first, is that new words proliferate. One way of making them is to add the suffix -ize to a noun or adjective, and so increase our stock of verbs. . . .Most verbs in -ize are inelegant. Sir Alan Herbert has compared them to lavatory fittings, useful in their proper place but not to be multiplied beyond what is necessary for practical purposes. . . . A recent experiment of this kind, seriously made in a serious journal, was to refer to the 'comprehensivizing' by a local authority of its educational system, a neologism that certainly deserves high marks if the test of its merit is the number of words it saves; so would 'deproletarianize' used by a speaker on the Third Programme, if we could be sure what it meant."
My personal favorite is "Iraqize."
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At least nabalzbbfr
Has learned how to spell "non sequitiur" since his last foray into this area. If he continues to frequent this blog, he may eventually learn what a non sequitur is.
But I think you all misinterpret nabalzbbfr. He is neither a wingnut nor a parody troll. He is simply auditioning to be a writer for comedy central. Sadly, what he doesn't realize is that the Daily Show and the Colbert Report don't need writers. Or rather that their material comes prewritten. All they have to do is read what the Bush administration or its spokescreatures have said about an event or situation while showing a video of what actually happened and it's hilarious.
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Proactive
Jestaplero,
You raise a valid point, but I must say that when I encounter the word 'proactive' it is invariably used as a cover by people who have no clue what they expect to happen. The word is usually an alarm bell indicating that its user is not prepared, but really wishes they were and hope that somebody else can be. In my humble and limited experience, the word 'proactive' is never coupled with a specific action or activity, but rather offered as a substitute for specificty.
However, you have provided an excellent definition and if the word is actually entering the language as you suggest, then I withdraw my objection to it.
In the meantime I'll say things like "I expect y to happen, so I think we should do x first." It's a few more words, but doesn't leave my fellows floundering around trying to look proactive.
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Proactive isn't a word it is a fraud
Like "truthiness" it attempts to substitute the word "active", as in "We're taking an active approach to situations in the Middle East", for "proactive", as in "We are all for taking an active approach to issues in the Middle East." The former asserts an actual decision or action. The latter merely asserts what one want's to be perceived as doing. People who use the term "proactive" are merely asserting the appearance of being something they are not or at least are not willing to actually commit to.
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@ KSC
"New verbs in -ize. A feature of the second Elizabethan age, as of the first, is that new words proliferate. One way of making them is to add the suffix -ize to a noun or adjective, and so increase our stock of verbs. . . .Most verbs in -ize are inelegant. Sir Alan Herbert has compared them to lavatory fittings, useful in their proper place but not to be multiplied beyond what is necessary for practical purposes....
That's why we need a new paradigm. Rather than subsuming the proliferatization of such clunky neologisms to expediency, we need to strike forth boldly in a new direction. Which is why, early on here in this thread, I proffered my suggestion about "verbilating". It flows off the tongue in calm, resonant waves, rather than the hymenopterized buzzing of the more common "verbization", which makes you duck your head and wonder which direction the next assault is coming from.
Cheers,
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Verbing weirds language
As Calvin would say.
But I agree Arne — incentivate is much better than incentivize. As indeed, one of my student's freely invented deportate has much more flair than simple deport or even deportize could ever aspire to.
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The greatest strategic disaster? I'm not so sure.
despite being exposed as the authors and cheerleaders of the greatest strategic disaster in our country's history.
You might want a weasel phrase in here. As it is, this is probably an overstatement. Iraq is not (yet) as bad as Vietnam (IMO).
I mean, Iraq is in many ways worse, because we were drawn gradually into Vietnam by a series of small subtle mistakes that look bad or important only when the overall context and result is considered, and reasonable people could have (and did) fail to see the eventual consequences.
Meanwhile, Iraq was precipitated by a single momentous decision, that any sane person had to realize was potentially momentous. Basically it would have required much more real competence and foresight to stay out of Vietnam than Iraq. But on the matter of strategic damage, Vietnam is probably still worse, and I pray we end our occupation in Iraq in time that it remains so.
Michael
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funny thing, that
With all of Glenn's blather about who's related to whom, he somehow fails to get around to mentioning that Kagan's central point is correct: the surge is working.
You can get it here, straight from the mouht (or keyboard) of Iraqis on the ground, witnessing its success:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009754
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@ pinkerton
With all of Glenn's blather about who's related to whom, he somehow fails to get around to mentioning that Kagan's central point is correct: the surge is working.
Ummm, Glenn's comments were to the effect that Kagan has been reliably and repeatedly wrong on everything else in the past.
You can get it here, straight from the mouht (or keyboard) of Iraqis on the ground, witnessing its success:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009754
Ummm, the esteemed Wall Stree Journal editorial staff are out hoofing it through the Iraqi landscape? One could hope.... ;-)
Or you mean they're cherry-picking individual "Iraqi" 'reports' off the web (kind of like listening to Chalabi's thugs in advance of the war...)? The ol' "proof by personal experience" stuff?
Here's today's entries from "http://icasualties.org/oif":
03/13/07 deseretnews: Utah soldier dies in non-combat incident
Army Sgt. 1st Class Douglas C. Stone of Kearns died in Iraq Sunday during a non-combat related incident. "That incident is still under investigation," said Army spokesman Claude McKinney of the Army Reserve 96th Regional Readiness Command.
03/13/07 MCT: One-quarter of Iraq, Afghanistan veterans filing injury claims
More than a quarter of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have filed injury claims with the government...Of the nearly 690,000 veterans who served in those combat zones, more than 180,000 had filed claims by the end of last year, the report showed.
03/13/07 kltv: Thousands Of Veterans Return With Mental Illness
Nearly a third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who received care from Veterans Affairs between 2001 and 2005 were diagnosed with mental health or psychosocial ills, a new study concludes.
03/13/07 FreshAir: Journalists Document Military Mental-Health Failings
Journalists Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman of The Hartford Courant have been awarded the George Polk Award for their series from May on flaws in the military's mental health system: Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight.
03/13/07 AsiaTimes: Iraqi Kurds fear a new war
The fragile quiet in this no-man's land was broken by a young fighter shooting into the air at a regular morning ceremony to "commemorate martyrs". The firing was more than ceremonial. A new threat of war is looming in this mountain range...
03/13/07 Reuters: Katyusha rocket hits street in central Baghdad - 2 killed
A Katyusha rocket landed on a commercial street of Karrada in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding two others, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: 15 bodies found in Baghdad
A total of 15 bodies with gunshot wounds were found on Monday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: Gunmen kill 3 policemen in Baghdad
Gunmen opened fire at a police vehicle killing three policemen and wounding two in Zayuna district in eastern Baghdad, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills 1, wounds 2 in northern Baghdad
A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded two people in northern Baghdad, police said
03/13/07 Reuters: Gunmen kill policeman in Kirkuk
Gunmen opened fire at a police patrol killing one policeman and wounding three in the northern city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: Gunmen kill director of mechanical industries company
Gunmen killed Hatam Muhsin, the general director of mechanical industries company, in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: Iraqi translater killed in Kut
Gunmen killed an Iraqi translator working for the U.S. military on Monday in the city of Kut, 170 km (105 miles) south east of Baghdad, police said.
03/13/07 Reuters: Police arrest 2 leaders of insurgent group
Police arrested Ahmed Faraj and Ali Jassim, leaders in the 20th Revolutionary Brigades insurgent group, in Abu Ghraib district in the western outskirts of Baghdad, Brigadier Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, Interior Ministry spokesman, told Reuters.
03/13/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills 4 firefighters in Kirkuk
A roadside bomb killed four firefighters on Monday when it exploded near their vehicle in a town near Kirkuk, police said.
03/13/07 Xinhua : Three Iraqis killed in shooting, bombing attacks north of Baghdad
Three people were killed, with another one kidnapped, in separate shooting and bombing attacks in Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad on Tuesday morning, a local police source told Xinhua.
03/13/07 AP: 700 more U.S. soldiers arrive in troubled Diyala province
More than 700 additional U.S. troops arrived in Iraq's increasingly volatile Diyala province today to try to quell burgeoning violence northeast of Baghdad during a security crackdown in the capital.
03/13/07 AP: Iraqi PM visits Sunni insurgent stronghold
Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister on Tuesday made a groundbreaking and unannounced visit to Ramadi, the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, a senior staff member told The Associated Press.
Well, maybe it'll be different tomorrow....
Cheers,