Crunchy Verbs (moved from main list)

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

At 5:56 AM +0000 7/5/03, Jesta Hijinx wrote:
>
>The most common and horrific one (and it doesn't appear in OotP, not that I
>saw, thankfully) is "administrate".  :-/  "Administration" comes from the
>verb "to administer".  There actually is no word, save for the false verb
>reconstruction, "administrate".

Actually, for me "administer" and "administrate" are two different 
words.  To administrate is to act like a stereotypical administrator 
(Fudge, for example).  Similarly, we have "comment" and then 
"commentate" - to make noises like a commentator.

The erroneous back-formations can be quite useful if one's intent is 
a bit tongue-in-cheek, IMHO.  A number of the administrators in my 
school district administrate rather than administer.

-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.