Month: December 2007

“ingenius products”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Misspellings, Nouns

I saw this in a blogger’s post.

Problem:
The word “ingenius” is a misspelling of an adjective.

Explanation:
Try to look up “ingenius” at Dictionary.com. What you’ll find is “No results found for ingenius.” and a “Did you mean … ?” question.

The correct spelling of the adjective is “ingenious”. The fragment gen in the adjective “ingenious” is the base of the verb gignere, which means to bring into being.

In contrast, the English noun “genius” is from the Latin word genius, which means talent, spirit, or guardian deity.

So a “genius” is someone who is talented, whereas something that is “ingenious” is characterized by originality of invention. There is no such word (except as a brand name) with the spelling “ingenius”.

Solution:
“ingenious products”

“Miniscule”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders

I occasionally see this in writing.

Problem:
“Miniscule” is meaningless.

Explanation:
People use “miniscule” as if it were an adjective that means small or tiny. Unfortunately, this is a misspelling of “minuscule” (notice the “u”), which means lowercase or (of letters) small.

In other words, “minuscule” is a typesetting word. Its complementary typesetting word is “majuscule”, which means uppercase or (of letters) capital.

I believe that those who use “miniscule” are not hearing “minuscule” pronounced correctly (or they’re mis-hearing the pronunciation) and they believe that it sounds more intelligent than “small” or “tiny”. Well, it doesn’t sound more intelligent to those who know what the proper word is and what that word means. They should stick with “small” or “tiny” and leave “minuscule” to typesetters.

Solution:
Never use “miniscule”. Use “minuscule” when referring to lowercase letters; use an adjective such as “small” or “tiny” when referring to size.

“Install” vs. “Installer” vs. “Installation”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Verbs, Versus

I increasingly see the first word used as a synonym for the second or third word.

Problem:
The words “install” and “installer” and “installation” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The primary definition of the verb “install” is to place in position. For example, Joe can install a word processor on your PC. would be an appropriate use of this verb. The primary definition of the noun “installer” is someone who or something that installs something. For example, the word-processor installer would be an appropriate use of this noun. The key definitions of the noun “installation” are something that has been installed or the process of installing. For example, The word-processor installation consumed 500 MB of hard-disk space. and The word-processor installation has already required ten minutes. would be appropriate uses of this noun.

Unfortunately, many use “install” when they should use “installer” or “installation”. I believe that the use of “install” instead of “installer” or “installation” when one of the latter is appropriate represents a laziness that favors easier-to-pronounce words. The word “install”, at two syllables, is simpler to say and write than are “installer” and “installation”, at three or four syllables, respectively.

This use of a verb as a noun (e.g., The install went well. or Download the install from our website.) when there are perfectly good “-er” and “-tion” nouns is not only lazy but also confusing.

For example, Do you have a copy of the install? could mean:

  • Do you have a copy of the installer?
    –    or-
  • Do you have a copy of the installation?

Other examples abound these days.

Solution:
Use “install” when you want to refer placing in position; use “installer” when you want to refer to the thing or person who installs something; use “installation” when you want to refer to the act of installing or to that which has been installed.