Today I learn that according to Paul Brians' book, "Common Errors in English Usage", the term "incent" is not a verb, or even a word for that matter.
Business folks sometimes use “incent” to mean “create an incentive,” but it’s not standard English. “Incentivize” is even more widely used, but strikes many people as an ugly substitute for “encourage.”
I suppose I should have known this. However, this brings up a philosophical question; if the word is "commonly" used and understood, then is it really an error at all?
Posts
6 comments:
Cute picture! You single?
I saw you type that from across the room honey :)
WHAT?!?! Who me? noooooooooooooooo
You are both adorable! I vote you Couple of 2007.
ps - i hate fake english words. My least favorite are business words ending in -ize, such as Operationalize
There was a time (I remember) when blog wasn't a word, but it is now! For that matter, there was time when "computer" wasn't a word - and as you know, that's according to our Webster's dictionary from 1950! So...there will be a time when "incent" is an official word. Webster's just needs to keep up with the times.
Tim agrees with "Mom".
We have a old dictionary that we used to use for scrabble that I have since become "scabble-obselete", as it doesn't include the word "computer". The absolute last straw was when I put "zit" on a tripple letter score and this dictionary didn't include it.
Post a Comment