Redstate

It's lazy and it's ugly - although there are some "ize" words which are acceptable

Thank you

"During my lifetime, all our problems have come from mainland Europe, and all the solutions from the English-speaking nations across the world." - Thatcher

While it has become difficult to avoid "ize" altogether, the overuse of terms like reform has rendered them meaningless.

Perhaps you could monetize it.

[ducks]
--
Gone 2500 years, still not PC.

but I would say Michael Barone's us even more lonely.

As one might say, though, I am 'down for the struggle'.

I have my own term usage crusades. They involve the use of 'execution' and 'beheading'.

The term 'execution' should (IMO) never be used when 'execution-style murder' or 'murder' is more fitting. And terrorists 'executing' hostages is never fitting to me.

Similarly, while 'beheading' is certainly accurate, I would like to see 'murdered by beheading' used instead.

I fear these are lonely pursuits as well.

It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?

"Can you dollarize that data for us?"
"What are you doing to solution that problem?"

Turning nouns into verbs was so common we even had a phrase for it: "At (our company) any noun can be verbed." I suppose you could carry it a step further and say that we did "verbization" of nouns.

The word has a connotation that "use" does not, but that is rarely why it is chosen. Why use one syllable when three will do? Eschew obfuscation, I always say.

It's so reflexive that I think it's going to be tough, though. I'd love to see it go just for the posstructrual use in "problematize."

I also submit that the words "community" and "diversity" need to be completely expunged from people's vocabulary in their postmodern usages. Whenever I hear anyone attempt to explain themself using either of those two words, the "Moron!" gongs start clanging. People who use them to explain or justify their political and/or economic views, especially, should be broken on the wheel. Truthfully, there are no punishments from the Middle Ages too cruel or severe to consider, but I particularly favor The Wheel:

Sometimes it was 'mercifully' ordered that the executioner should strike the criminal on chest and stomach, blows known as coups de grâce, which caused lethal injuries, leading to the end of the death by torture; without those, the broken man could take hours, even days, before shock and dehydration caused death. In France, a special grace, called the retentum, could be granted, by which the condemned was strangled after the second or third blow, or in special cases, even before the breaking began.

Afterwards, the condemned's shattered limbs were woven ('braiden') through the spokes of the wheel which was then hoisted onto a tall pole, so that birds could eat the sometimes still-living individual.

This is precisely what should happen to people who attempt to explain their worldviews in terms of "community" and/or "diversity".

Great post!

For those of you who aren't web developers or who haven't ever known one, this has always been one of my favorites:

During the height of the dotcom boom, a couple of subversive programmers wrote an extension for Macromedia's Dreamweaver web design software which allowed developers to pad their page templates with an alternative to the traditional "Lorem Ipsum" filler text: The Corporate Mumbo-Jumbo Generator.

Those of you who survived the dotcom boom/bust as programmers or developers can ruefully recall how appropriate this extension was. It generated filler text that was almost indistinguishable in terms of its meaningless information content from most dotcom corporate press releases and mission statements.

A wee sample:

From binary cause and effect to complex patterns, in order to build a shared view of what can be improved, motivating participants and capturing their expectations. The three cs - customers, competition and change - have created a new world for business by adopting project appraisal through incremental cash flow analysis, taking full cognizance of organizational learning parameters and principles. From binary cause and effect to complex patterns, quantitative analysis of all the key ratios has a vital role to play in this building flexibility through spreading knowledge and self-organization. The three cs - customers, competition and change - have created a new world for business through the adoption of a proactive stance, the astute manager can adopt a position at the vanguard.

The balanced scorecard, like the executive dashboard, is an essential tool exploitation of core competencies as an essential enabler, to ensure that non-operating cash outflows are assessed. By moving executive focus from lag financial indicators to more actionable lead indicators, quantitative analysis of all the key ratios has a vital role to play in this in order to build a shared view of what can be improved..

So, how do you feel about "amortize." As in, "Conservatives would like to amortize the national budget deficit." Don't tell me that doesn't warm the cockles of your heart.

A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli

I'm not a big fan of the bureaucratic-sounding words. But I don't know if you can ban "ize." Sounds kinda "1982"ish. I like having the option of making up new words when the occasion calls for it. Like in college when I frequently added "ish" to the end of various words to make them adjectives (and apparently sometimes still do). But I sympathize...some words words just get awkward with the "ize" endings.

I'm big on lost causes, afterall I'm still on a tear about "proactive."

It can be active.
It can be inactive.
It can be retroactive.
It can even be radioactive.
But it can't be proactive.

John
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Liberals: Alchemists who have mastered the ability to transmute Lead into a denser form of Lead

effect: noun
affect: verb

If I could create a computer chip that would cause people to have this distinction hardwired into their brains, I would prioritize a lobbying effort to have it manditorized. :)

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.