I typically kvetch about this usage when it occurs on my campus, for a
couple of reasons. First, I don't think the admin people here who use
the word all the time know anything about British English, so I doubt
they're copying it. Second, I think they *do* have the idea that they
should use a longer word whenever possible, and I always try to deflate
that particular balloon. Let it go, within a couple of years you'll have
'orientationificate'. And besides, as an English prof I figure I'm
supposed to have verbal whims, as long as I don't take myself too
seriously, and annoying the admin with diction dicta gives them some
well-earned karmic payback.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jo Rubba
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 12:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: orientate
"Orientate" is the British equivalent of American "orient". I don't have
a big dictionary handy, but I believe both are backformations from
'orientation', the source word, as, for example 'edit' is from 'editor'
and 'peddle' from (sp.?) 'peddler'. The Brits just made the cut a little
further along in the word than Americans did. I'm getting a similar
backformation from my students: "pronunciate" from 'pronunciation', and
I also got 'coronate' from 'coronation'.
So, if you want to look at it as right/wrong, they're both wrong! A more
sanguine view, however, is that words arise this way all the time. If a
usage spreads, there's not much to be done about it. I wouldn't be
surprised to see 'pronunciate' become common over time, although we do
have 'pronounce' to compete; it's often harder for a new word to
establish itself if an existing word already provides a label for the
concept.
This is an interesting example because it pits two national standard
dialects against each other.
(Sorry about the mixed quotation marks.)
--
***************************************************
Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, Cal Poly State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. 805-756-2184 ~ Dept. phone 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374 ~ E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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