TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Generally, in formal writing, you should not invent words, even if you
are sure that the meaning would be clear. "Neologisms, or invented
words, are to be used carefully and self-consciously. Usually they
demand an explanation, since the English language is already well
stocked."--Garner, "A Dictionary of Modern American Usage"
If "unvalidated" is used to mean "not validated," it might not confuse
anyone, but outside of the specialized fields where it's ubiquitous
jargon, it's inappropriate.
The dictionary is by no means always the last word. However, when I'm
considering using an extradictionarial word in formal writing, I use
Google and other search tools to verify that such usage is indeed
common. For example, Google finds 1.1 million hits for "not validated"
but only 216,000 for "unvalidated," and skimming the latter makes it
clear that the usage is common only in certain linguistic niches.
On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 6:07 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin
<Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
> DO you assert that it is an improper action by users of English to take a word in common usage and ON THEIR OWN INITIATIVE apply an ordinary prefix to it, in order to convey meaning that can reasonably be expected to be understood by other users of English? Is it your position that a prefix is suitable ONLY in those instances where somebody else has prescribed it for you in a dictionary?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
