intentional

sagehen sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM
Mon Jul 16 15:20:18 UTC 2007


>Sounds like the not-quite precisely synonymous "deliberate" would work
>better. "Intentional" sounds plain wrong to me.
>
>  JL
>
>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Charles Doyle
>Subject: intentional
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>A syndicated column appearing in this morning's newspaper contained an odd
>use (or so it seemed to me) of the word "intentional."
>
>The writer is Leonard Pitts (and it's an admirable column!): "Have we lost
>that much capacity to be serious and intentional about our own lives and
>futures?" (_Athens [GA] Banner-Herald_, A6). That sense of the
>word--something like 'purposeful'--doesn't quite match any of the meanings
>recorded in the OED, though it resembles some esoteric uses in
>philosophical discourse.
>
>--Charlie
 ~~~~~~~~~~
"Intentional" sounds quite normal to me in this sort of context.  One of my
daughters lives in a so-called "intentional community" formed over 50 years
ago by Quakers & like-minded people.   I think the meaning is more like
'attentive' or 'aware' than 'purposeful.'  Think not 'unintentional.'
AM

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