MSNBC - what were you thinking!?!? Have you ever heard of a copy editor? A proofreader? How about hiring journalists that understand the basic grammatical rules of English? Let me settle this duh-bate once and for all:
ORIENTATE is NOT A WORD!!!!!
The word is orient, as in, position something or gain one's bearings. O-r-i-e-n-t. Like what they used to call China, ya know? Not orientate. It's not a word - or at least, not a word in acceptable standard usage of English grammar. It's bad enough that it appears in the text of the article (as a quote, which could at least be chalked up to the incompetence of the interview subject....although you'd think a kind copy editor would at least correct this mistake). But they actually use it as a boldfaced headline!!?? What the hella??? GAH! Not even an altruistic dolphin can save us from the slow and steady erosion of the English language.....
6 comments:
UGH!! "Orientate" is one of my biggest peeves! And hello MSNBC, but there's this magic little thing known as [sic] that allows you to quote stupid people. USE IT!
"Disorientated"!!! AAAAAACKKK! NOOOOO! yeah I hate that one in particular! But then again, I was caught red-handed the other day saying that I am very "self-depreciating" ... oops. But it's better than if I had said "self-defecating".
anyway, grammar rulez
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disorientated
oh noes! anonymous has revealed a dark and bitter truth. Should we be ashamed? Or should the dictionary be ashamed, to have accepted such a monstrosity?
Is it in the OED? Who has a copy handy? Sorry, but dictionary.com is NOT a definitive source.
i looked it up before i posted. general consensus seems to be that it has been added to some dictionaries as a colloquialism OR as an archaic usage, before language was standardized. but all the sources i looked at suggested that it is commonly looked down upon as improper grammar. so, i contend we're still right to be up in arms about it. ;)
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