Herb (Was Re: Harry and Hairy - The Difference.)

Carol justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Sat Sep 8 02:09:57 UTC 2007


Geoff:
> 
> It's a variation in UK/US spelling....
> 
> From my dictionary:
> 
> Disorient > verb. Chiefly N.Amer. another term for disorientate.
> 
> Aluminium...  (US Aluminum)......
> 
> It's you lot the other side of the pond again..... 
> You're always wanting to be different. :-))

Carol:

And from mine:

Main Entry: dis·ori·ent
Pronunciation: (")dis-'or-E-"ent
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: French désorienter, from dés- dis- + orienter to orient
1 a : to cause to lose bearings : displace from normal position or
relationship b : to cause to lose the sense of time, place, or identity
2 : CONFUSE

Main Entry: dis·ori·en·tate
Pronunciation: -E-&n-"tAt, -E-"en-
Function: transitive verb
: DISORIENT
- dis·ori·en·ta·tion /(")dis-"or-E-&n-'tA-sh&n, -E-"en-/ noun

So "disorient" is the main entry and "disorientate" the alternate. 

American editors (unless we're trying to retain British diction and
grammar) generally consider "disorientate" unnecessarily long and
awkward and would change it to "disorient" under most circumstances.
It appears to be a back formation from "disorientation."

It's not as bad as, say, "irregardless," but I would still correct it
in an American manuscript, just as I would correct "preventative" to
"preventive." 

Attempts to keep the language graceful and rational are probably
doomed to failure, but we keep trying.

Carol, on hold for a conference call and typing one-handed






More information about the HPFGU-OTChatter archive