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I'm a 70s kid, old enough to know that word choice popularity goes through phases. That's because I've read many of what Language Log refers to as "peeving", d

I'm a 70s kid, old enough to know that word choice popularity goes through phases. That's because I've read many of what Language Log refers to as "peeving", described at https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=37417 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=37417 as "short essays about clichés, neologisms, and trendy new expressions that drove the author crazy." As well as the "‘recency illusion’, where you think an expression is new but it’s been around for ages. In a sense, it’s fair to call this an illusion – but like a lot of real illusions, it may be based on misinterpreting something that we do perceive accurately: changes in relative frequency. The same thing probably applies to complaints about English hopefully as a modal adjunct or sentence adverb, which drove purists in the 1960s and 1970s to distraction and implausible etymologizing." While that one is specifically about German, see https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=49849 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=49849 for one about English, and https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=62 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=62 for the category "peeving."

mytailorisrich 3y ago
In this case it is not an illusion.
- eesmith 3y ago
  It is still peeving. I totally agree there is a change in relative frequency. I think the pause button on tape machines, video playback, etc. has made it a much more common word. The recency illusion is when, for example, you think the verb sense of "to pause" was something new, when it is centuries old. That can't be precisely your point, as Shakespeare used pause as a verb, as https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-results.php https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-results.... shows. But you are really complaining about "to pause <X>", like how this 20+ year old example from the patent at https://patents.google.com/patent/US6567787B1/en?q=(%22disadvantageous%22)&oq=%22disadvantageous+to+pause+transactions%22 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6567787B1/en?q=(%22disad... uses "For example, if there are many customers waiting in line, it is disadvantageous to pause transactions since that would increase the waiting time of those customers." or when IBM in 1985 or so wrote "Only the computer that paused printing can continue printing" at https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibmpclanNe6361559IBMPCNetworkProgram1.0UsersGuide1_12755008/page/5-39/mode/2up?q=%22paused+printing%22 https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibmpclanNe6361559IBMPC... Why does that get you worked up? Language changes all the time, and this process started at least by the time I was a teenager.

mytailorisrich 3y ago

In this case it is not an illusion.

eesmith 3y ago
It is still peeving. I totally agree there is a change in relative frequency. I think the pause button on tape machines, video playback, etc. has made it a much more common word. The recency illusion is when, for example, you think the verb sense of "to pause" was something new, when it is centuries old. That can't be precisely your point, as Shakespeare used pause as a verb, as https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-results.php https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-results.... shows. But you are really complaining about "to pause <X>", like how this 20+ year old example from the patent at https://patents.google.com/patent/US6567787B1/en?q=(%22disadvantageous%22)&oq=%22disadvantageous+to+pause+transactions%22 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6567787B1/en?q=(%22disad... uses "For example, if there are many customers waiting in line, it is disadvantageous to pause transactions since that would increase the waiting time of those customers." or when IBM in 1985 or so wrote "Only the computer that paused printing can continue printing" at https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibmpclanNe6361559IBMPCNetworkProgram1.0UsersGuide1_12755008/page/5-39/mode/2up?q=%22paused+printing%22 https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibmpclanNe6361559IBMPC... Why does that get you worked up? Language changes all the time, and this process started at least by the time I was a teenager.