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conuly
If you're going to claim that this, that, or the other thing isn't a word, you should at least check a dictionary first. Preferably the OED, but since I lack one of those, I just use online Merriam-Webster when being a snot.
Why? Because chances are, it *is* a word. Really, it's hard to see how it can't be. I mean, if I can use it, and other people have a fighting chance of understanding what I mean when I do, I'd like to know what the heck it is if it's not a word. But I mean to say it's a word that's been properly pinned down and recorded, and may have existed for a very, very long time indeed.
Once you've determined that it is, in fact, considered a word by the experts in the field, you can then make a slightly more coherent complaint - it's a word, but one you feel is unwieldy, or ugly, or that marks people as ignorant, or that only serves to cause confusion, or whatever the heck you want to say about it, I don't know.
You've then made your complaint, and you've done it without looking silly. Everybody wins.
Edit: Incidentally, I totally agree that nobody should ever wait for anything with baited breath. However, the word bated is otherwise so obscure that I suggest anybody who doesn't know what the word means (don't go looking it up! I mean it!) immediately go out and just find a new expression to cover the meaning of "waiting with eager anticipation". We'll all be happier for it.
Why? Because chances are, it *is* a word. Really, it's hard to see how it can't be. I mean, if I can use it, and other people have a fighting chance of understanding what I mean when I do, I'd like to know what the heck it is if it's not a word. But I mean to say it's a word that's been properly pinned down and recorded, and may have existed for a very, very long time indeed.
Once you've determined that it is, in fact, considered a word by the experts in the field, you can then make a slightly more coherent complaint - it's a word, but one you feel is unwieldy, or ugly, or that marks people as ignorant, or that only serves to cause confusion, or whatever the heck you want to say about it, I don't know.
You've then made your complaint, and you've done it without looking silly. Everybody wins.
Edit: Incidentally, I totally agree that nobody should ever wait for anything with baited breath. However, the word bated is otherwise so obscure that I suggest anybody who doesn't know what the word means (don't go looking it up! I mean it!) immediately go out and just find a new expression to cover the meaning of "waiting with eager anticipation". We'll all be happier for it.
