incent : a big SOTA

[Jonathan Lighter]

How many are aware that English contains a verb "to incent," meaning "to provide with and incentive" ?  I sure didn't, at least not until Governor George Pataki (R. -N.Y.) promised a few minutes ago to "incent consumers" to switch to ethanol.

  Making the situation far more dire is that my OED colleagues can prove that "incent" has been in print at least since 1977.  After nearly thirty years, we should not be surprised to learn that even little children, somewhere, are learning to lisp it.  One can only prophesize that these little children will soon be incented to grow the economy.

  Won't you join me in taking the Pledge never to use the discrete phonemic sequence "incent" in speech or writing as long as you live, and beyond if possible ?  And won't you do your best to scourge and discomfit the misguided souls who do use it ?

  JL

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org