Embrace, extend, control
Saturday, October 11th, 2003 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robinturnerReaders will already be familiar with my hatred of Microsoft, and may be inclined to scroll down on seeing yet another LJer moaning about Windows or Internet Explorer. This post, however, concerns non-computing issues. Not content with perverting standards and flooding the software market with buggy products, Bill Gates seems now to have turned his "embrace, extend, control" philosophy toward the English language. Take this quotation, for example:
Given Microsoft's previous record on "innovation" (i.e. taking someone else's product or standard, tweaking it a bit and selling it at an inflated price), I wonder what the status of words like "architected" might be. In the unlikely instance of our wanting to use such monstrosities, will we have to purchase a licence to do so? Will MS English (also to be known as E#) be compatible with industry standards like SAE and RP, or will it follow the trend of Java and HTML "optimisations"? Will it contain security holes enabling American teenagers to infect essays with the "SO.NOT" virus?
Architected? I am all for creativity in language (or "innovation", as Gates would call it) but this is pointless. There is already a verb to describe the process that results in architecture: "build".
Bill Gates was recently asked if Microsoft software might eventually be available only for rent through .NET, and replied "I believe in the long run things will be architected that way" (2003 and Beyond).
Given Microsoft's previous record on "innovation" (i.e. taking someone else's product or standard, tweaking it a bit and selling it at an inflated price), I wonder what the status of words like "architected" might be. In the unlikely instance of our wanting to use such monstrosities, will we have to purchase a licence to do so? Will MS English (also to be known as E#) be compatible with industry standards like SAE and RP, or will it follow the trend of Java and HTML "optimisations"? Will it contain security holes enabling American teenagers to infect essays with the "SO.NOT" virus?
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far be it from me to defend mr. gates, but ...
Date: 2003-10-11 09:38 am (UTC)Re: far be it from me to defend mr. gates, but ...
Date: 2003-10-11 10:51 am (UTC)Re: far be it from me to defend mr. gates, but ...
Date: 2003-10-11 10:55 am (UTC)Re: far be it from me to defend mr. gates, but ...
Date: 2003-10-11 12:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-11 11:06 am (UTC)George Carlin did a good job of ripping apart extraneous language in one of his shows. Phrases like boarding process or nonsensical stuff like a meteorologist describing a "rain event." (Wow, where can I get tickets for that?!)
I think what irks me just as much is mispronunciation, as in when people say pref-FER-ably instead of PREF-rably, or ir-re-PAIR-able instead of ir-REP-rable. o.O
What do you think of the word 'irregardless'?
no subject
Date: 2003-10-11 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-11 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 03:10 pm (UTC)Imagine, just imagine, that they said it really sarcastically. Thus, the meaning is negated, and they're really saying "*sarcastic* oh, yeah, I could care less" i.e. "I could not care less".
No, that's not actually what they meant, but I can pretend...
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Date: 2003-10-11 11:12 am (UTC)As for the poster who asked about "irregardless," I once wrote a review of a play where I pointed out that one of the characters, even though she is supposed to be a high-powered Ivy League attorney, constantly uses "irregardless." Which harmed the play's believability factor quite a bit.
When I was working as a proofreader for marketing and ad agencies, I kept seeing the non-word "incent." As in "We wish to incent the consumer." Aiiieee!
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Date: 2003-10-11 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-11 11:41 am (UTC)