intentional

[Jonathan Lighter]

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
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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
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