Word Horror of the Day: Disambiguate
The professed goal of the current volume of scriptural transliteration and commentary I am reading (to accompany the Song of Songs) is to "disambiguate the text." The effect, of course, is to disembowel the text. It is dying and spread out all over the page with squishy bits and smell.
I have stopped reading it.
I do not mind having my vast ignorance of Hebrew and the principals and practices of ancient Hebrew poetry laid out for me in painstaking detail. That's why I checked out the book. But there is richness that cannot be reduced. I am saddened to find that it can, though, be killed.
Speaking of, a lovely article on Wind in the Willows at Salon.com today. (It is called "Abridged Too Far." You may have to watch a commerical to read it. It's worth it.)
The other nominee for today's word horror is "bunkerized." Don't get me started on "embedded." Previous diatribes on calibrate, fractionate, and architechtural.
2 Comments
Got a new one for you. It’s “privilege,” used as a transitive verb. Here’s an example: “Written and oral assignments are designed to address the intertextuality among the writings, and to privilege critical/analytical skills, as well as…” etc.
I conferred with Linda kenyon and she thinks it could mean “to give priority to.”
Well, in brain development, a privileged function is one that develops early and decays late or otherwise resists damage — such as the ability to recognize a face as a face.
So, perhaps it means “to develop.”
Which doesn’t excuse the horror, of course. Why do violence to “privilege”, when you could use “encourage,” “develop,” or “promote.” And be better understood in the bargin.