Devolution toward Simpler

“… content assessable from the home page”

Adjectives, Devolution toward Simpler, Mispronunciations

I saw this in a PowerPoint document.

Problem:
The word “assessable” makes no sense in this phrase.

Explanation:
The PowerPoint document was about online support content. The slide in which this appeared was about providing a link to support content from the home page of the website.

The adjective “assessable” means capable of being assessed (e.g., for the purpose of taxation).

The PowerPoint author probably mispronounces — or at least hears mispronounced — “accessible” as “assessable” instead.

If you cannot imagine this, then think of the way that Jo Frost on the ABC TV show “Supernanny” mispronounces “That’s not acceptable.” as “That’s not asseptable.” instead.

I believe that this kind of mispronunciation — mispronouncing a “k” sound followed by an “s” sound as simply an “s” sound — is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

Solution:
“… content accessible from the home page”

“Stakeholder the tool …”

Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Verbs

I saw this in an email message yesterday.

Problem:
“Stakeholder” is not a verb.

Explanation:
“Stakeholder the tool within the organization.” was the full sentence in the email message, which was describing a software application and was written to persons who, according to the message’s author, should feel that they had a stake in the software application’s success.

The problem is that the word “stakeholder” is a noun, not a verb.

The word “stakeholder” means a person or group with an interest in something (e.g., the stakes of a wager).

I believe that this (mis)use of the noun “stakeholder” as a verb is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis, just as the misuse of the verb “install” as a noun in place of the longer words “installer” and “installation” is consistent with this hypothesis.

Solution:
“Create stakeholders in the tool …”

“Remote Control”

Devolution toward Simpler

I have been thinking about this one for awhile.

It seems to me that we ought to use “remote controller” to refer to the device that controls a television set.

I believe that the use of “control” in place of “controller” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

This is analogous to the use of “install” in place of “installer”; many people like to drop the third syllable because it is simpler to say or write the two-syllable word than to say or write the three-syllable word.

The argument against using “install” as a noun is much stronger than the argument against using “control” as a noun. The latter argument already has been lost, it seems.

In contrast, it is worth asking people who use “install” as a noun whether they mean “installer” or “installation”; ask this in a group, and you will get conflicting answers. The conflicting answers make the respondents realize that they had different meanings in mind.

That illustrates why word choice matters. Pick an overloaded word with equally weighted definitions, and your audience of listeners or readers will have conflicting opinions about what you said or wrote. Pick a word with a clear definition, and your audience will have a clear understanding of what you meant.