Our New English Language

I have two teenage sons, so I have become quite proficient at how to spell now (the close of 2008, the dawn of 2009). You remember the old, "if you can read this, thank a teacher"? It's now, "f u cn red ths, thnk a tchr." Yes, it gets a little under my English graduate skin to even type that out but, if it saves money while texting, I'm all for it. I'm not lol.

Where I have to draw the line though, is when I see, read about, or hear adults making up new words. One of my least favorite is "incentivize" or "incent". Neither are real words. The word, incentive, is a noun meaning to "incite some type of change or behavior". Let's leave it alone, please. Find a real adjective to suit your subject matter.

But what got me going on this topic today was an article I saw recently in Ad Age magazine. The article presents a review of a recent discussion amongst ad agency personnel at a CMO Roundtable a the Association of National Advertisers annual conference in Orlando, FL. Apparently, they expressed concern that many of their clients are increasingly bypassing their usual media and creative agencies and instead, turning to media companies (perhaps like Babcox?) for creative marketing ideas. So far, the topic doesn't bother me too much. But then, this:

"If I were an agency, I would be really worried about being disintermediated," said Becky Saeger, CMO of Charles Schwab and new chairman of the ANA. "more and more, agencies are almost in the way sometimes."

Now, I know as a Publisher I should consider the content (which I find very interesting actually). But as a person with an English degree and a lifelong interest in language, the fake word, DISINTERMEDIATED, really ticks me off. For clarity's sake, say what you mean and mean what you say. Did she mean to use the word, disinter (to dig up) or maybe disintegrate (to separate into components) or disjoin (to disconnect) - which is probably close to what she meant. Or, perhaps she meant to say, "If I were an agency, I would be really worried about being FIRED."

Please - don't send me any e-mails with made up words... Or if you're going to make up a word, at least use a little creativity! Just because you add a prefix, a suffix, or an -ly at the end doesn't make it a word!

And don't think this is a rant against ad agencies - because it is not. We work with some excellent agencies that are very creative and bring a lot of great ideas to our clients. I like the idea of working with an agency and a client together. That triumvirate can generate a lot of new ideas and can move in directions that neither one individually may have considered.

Just........I'm able to handle the text-spell, just QUIT MAKING WORDS UP!

If you really feel the need to use new words, then check out the Chambers Dictionary online. I think I'll stick with Websters.

And don't even get me started on all the new names for people that seem to have come into being over the past decade or two. K?

thx. TTFN