Usage note

I have received a surprising volume of correspondence in multiple media about the use of “dialog” as a verb. There seems to be a bug in Radio Userland since it currently shows only 4 comments whereas I have pages of comments and emails. I do like this link brought to us from an “anonymous blog reader”:

Usage Note: In recent years the verb sense of dialogue meaning “to engage in an informal exchange of views” has been revived, particularly with reference to communication between parties in institutional or political contexts. Although Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Carlyle used it, this usage today is widely regarded as jargon or bureaucratese. Ninety-eight percent of the Usage Panel rejects the sentence Critics have charged that the department was remiss in not trying to dialogue with representatives of the community before hiring the new officers.

I can assure you that the usage panel doesn't want to dialog about their conclusions.

Which means I can get back to work.

Published by

Kim Cameron

Work on identity.