Date:    Thu, 25 Jun 1998 10:23:16 -0700
<br>From:    "A. Vine" <avine[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ENG.SUN.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: "incent"
<br>
<br>Peter McGraw wrote:
<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 reject "incent" and I'm not a linguist (sounds like a confession).  The
<br>feeling is too negative to use for the apparently positive purpose for which it
<br>seems intended.  It is too close to "incense" and "incite", both of which have
<br>negative connotations.  "Incentive" is a positive word for me, and I wouldn't
<br>want to dampen that.
<br>
<br>Whatever happened to "motivate"?
<br>
<br>>
<br>> As for "incentivize," that makes me cringe even more, with that suffix
<br>> that's the shibboleth par excellence of advertising jargon.
<br>
<br>I concur, "incentivize" is too fiddly and jargon-like for everyday speech.
<br>
<br>
<br>> 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>
<br>I have a lot of trouble understanding "intuit".  Intuition is more of a state;
<br>that is, one cannot acquire or impart it.  What can you "intuit"?  Does it mean
<br>stating a decision or prediction based on intuition?  Pretty lame, especially
<br>since intuition is not a basis one usually asserts.
<br>
<br>
<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>
<br>Well, "incent" sounds like one of them there inevitable words, but those of us
<br>who object do not have to use it.  I for one cannot be incented in that
<br>direction.
<br>
<br>;-}
<br>Andrea
<br>