Word Horror of the Day: ruggedized

Wikipedia's article on nanotech tells us "molecular electronics could be used to build ruggedized computer systems for missiles." Ruggedized. God in heaven help us. Ruggedized.

Reading about high tech, one encounters lots of these word horrors, where nouns mutate into verbs, then adjectives. Two particular disfavourites of mine are functionalize and reconfigurablity. One can see how this happens; it's easier to ply on suffixes than it is to do the real work of English: to make precise meaning from strong, simple words. It's easier to say "we'll functionalize the nanotube for intracelluar drug delivery" than it is say "we'll turn the nanotube into a tiny syringe."

But ruggedized is worse than functionalize. Functionalize is a verb made from an adjective made from a noun. But ruggedized is an adjective made from, ultimately, another adjective meaning the exact same thing.

Rugged, people. Just say "rugged."