4 ms·
I think Improper Nouns as described here also have a really big upside, especially for the main users of them. That is probably why they have proliferated recen
by rocqua 4y ago
I think Improper Nouns as described here also have a really big upside, especially for the main users of them. That is probably why they have proliferated recently.
These Improper Nouns are quite descriptive and therefore help people who are picking up a field. The diagnosis "Persistent depressive disorder" is, I think, a better name than "Green's Disorder" (presuming the diagnosis was introduced by someone called Green). Once you know an improper noun is an improper noun, and you know the context in which it was coined, then all of a sudden, it becomes much clearer than if it was truly a proper noun.
I think, accidentally, the old tendency of naming things in latin or ancient greek had the effect of marking things as Improper Nouns whilst still allowing people who understand those languages to get the description. Similarly, the "Persistent depressive disorder" name has some marker of being an improper noun: the noun 'disorder'. In that sense the Green building, or a highly sensitive person, are much worse examples. Because they contain no hint of being improper nouns.
Perhaps this 'marker' approach is a nice solution. Coin a whole set of nouns such as disorder, theorem, etc (examples feel hard to come by). Then use improper nouns as this 'base-noun' with a whole bunch of descriptive adjectives. Then any use of the base-noun marks it as part of an improper noun. Within this idea, I think we would need a base-noun for the concept of 'an organization that meets some legal definition'. Similar base-nouns for other things meeting legal definitions might be needed. If I were to dream perhaps you could give a normal noun some suffix to designate that it is not a X, but an X meeting a specific legal definition. If the suffix were -lex then the example of "certified community behavioral health clinic" would become a "certified community behavioral health cliniclex".