If it's not in the dictionary, it must not be a word

[Joel S. Berson]

But the "vbl n" "synergizing" would be, if considered important
enough a vbl n.  And the "ppl a" "synergizing" does appear s.v.
"synergize v." in OED2.

Joel

At 6/8/2006 07:03 PM, you wrote:
>http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/06/experts_agree_s.html
>
>Keith Cowling writes a blog called "Nasa Watch", where he criticizes the
>government space agency.  Here, he's complaining about the use of
>"synergizing", which he can't find in dictionaries.
>
>To the extent that his point is that NASA folks may speak in a way that
>is obfuscatory, fine, but his example is pretty bad (and wrong, to
>boot).  "Synergize" is listed as a verb in his dictionaries, and the OED
>as well.
>
>Apparently he doesn't know that the various tenses sometimes are, but
>often are not, broken out separately from the root verb in dictionaries.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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