do we need this word?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

from Deborah Solomon's interview with new NAACP president Bruce S.
Gordon, NYT Magoazine, 7/10/05, p. 15:

-----
[Solomon:] Of course, he [GWB] has already created a stir by being
the first president since Warren G. Harding who has declined to
appear before the N.A.A.C.P. while in office.

[Gordon:]  I'd like to find something that we as an organization care
about that he, too, cares about so that he can take the Bush tenacity
and direct it at that care-about.

[Solomon:]  Care-about?  Is that a noun?

[Gordon:]  Yes, and please attribute it to me when you use it in the
future.
-----

ok, folks, remember that attribution when you want something spiffier
than "concern" or "matter".

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)