RE: (Slight) HUMOUR: Banned Words

["Dan Hall" <dhall -at- san-carlos -dot- rms -dot- slb -dot- com>]

I'm not (necessarily) a prescriptivist, but I think
that there is something to be said for precision in
language. After all, if we can't agree on what the
meaning of "is" is, how can we communicate? 

That's not to say there's never a place for new
words - in the tech industry we're confronted by
them almost daily. But not speaking up when someone
makes an egregious error in usage like "port hole"
can't be good for communication, since the speaker
has no idea what he's saying, and the listener is
bound to be confused.

I don't want to dictate language, but when someone
says "Inconceivable", I want to be able to say, 
"You keep using that word. I don't think it means 
what you think it means."

My thought on this:

Never two words where one will do. 

Never use a coinage where an existing word will 
	accurately convey the same meaning.

Dan

"I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan,
my wife to murder, and Gildor to frame for it. I'm
swamped" - Prince Humperdink (Princess Bride)

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