incent : a big SOTA

[Fred Shapiro]

>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:46 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: incent : a big SOTA
>>
>> 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

Here's earlier:

1974 _N.Y. Times_ 17 Nov. 222 (ProQuest)  Lately, corporations have also
been "incented" -- to modernize their plant and equipment through the
accelerated depreciation range and investment credit features of the tax
code.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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