Date:    Thu, 25 Jun 1998 08:58:47 +0000
<br>From:    Peter McGraw <pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LINFIELD.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: "incent"
<br>
<br>Gosh, I'm surprised at so many linguists (well, roughly two so far)
<br>rejecting "incent."  C'mon, Bethany and Mark, are you sure you're not
<br>rationalizing (linguistifying?  Or should I say "linguing"?) the secret
<br>prescriptivist impulses we probably all harbor?
<br>
<br>I can't help cringing at "incent," either, no matter how many times I
<br>read it, but nevertheless if I force myself to be objective, it seems
<br>an extremely useful, even necessary, word--far more economical than
<br>the cumbersome "create an incentive to" (+ infinitive).
<br>
<br>As for its semantics, I find the same elegance there.  I had never
<br>heard the word before this discussion started, but the first time I
<br>read it, the meaning "create an incentive to" seemed obvious and
<br>unambiguous.
<br>
<br>As for "incentivize," that makes me cringe even more, with that suffix
<br>that's the shibboleth par excellence of advertising jargon.  And as for
<br>being "derived by an existing and widespread process," maybe
<br>back-formation isn't as widespread as suffixation, but it's certainly
<br>"existing."  What about "intuit"?  That always makes me cringe a tiny
<br>bit, too, but it's similarly useful and I see it's well enough
<br>established to have made it into my first-edition AHD.
<br>
<br>Even though "incentive" is derived from the p.p. of "incinere," I
<br>say let's not incinerate it just yet.
<br>
<br>Peter
<br>
<br>On Thu, 25 Jun 1998 11:29:34 -0400 "Bethany K. Dumas" <dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTK.EDU>
<br>wrote:
<br>
<br>> The problem I have with forms like "incent" is semantic: what EXACTLY
<br>> does it mean? It seems to me that it can mean variously "provide
<br>> incentive" or "provoke" or "fail to provide disincentive," etc.
<br>>
<br>> The same thing happens with the relatively new tr verb "grow" as in "to
<br>> grow the economy" -- does it mean "improve the economy" [and, if so,
<br>> by whose standards?] or "increase the GNP" or "decrease inflation"???
<br>> Who knows?
<br>>
<br>> Bethany
<br>
<br>----------------------
<br>Peter A. McGraw
<br>Linfield College
<br>McMinnville, Oregon
<br>pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]linfield.edu
<br>