Discussion Groups / English Usage / December 2003

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[Followups redirected to alt.usage.english]

[Previously, in a Very Special Episode of alt.tv.er:]
In article
news:9627-3FF0791F-71@storefull-3171.bay.webtv.net,
kitchen_wench@webtv.net (Gina *) wrote:

[Then I wrote:]
I might have a bright, shiny hook in my cheek, but I found
both of these words in a simple search at www.dictionary.com.

Since when have they been "fake words"?  And according to
whom?

[Then Gina * wrote:]
In article
news:15173-3FF1CB90-79@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net,
kitchen_wench@webtv.net (Gina *) wrote:

[snippage]

[Now I'm writing:]
 Gina, in other threads (on alt.tv.er) you talk about your
current medical problems, for which you have my sympathy.

 But I somehow can't let a cavalier "fake words" put-down pass
without comment, especially with the off-hand "though educated
people use them" slam.  I perceive that the underlying message
is a supercilious "Well, _I_ know they're 'fake words' and
anyone who uses them is displaying ignorance."

 Languages change, and what was considered non-standard in the
1960's (by teachers who were educated a generation earlier)
doesn't mean that new words or meanings don't develop over time
in the rest of the English-speaking world.

 Now, to address the your assertions about "fake words":

Admission vs. Addmittance
=========================

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=admission

Part of which says:

 Usage Note: It is often maintained that admittance should be
used only to refer to achieving physical access to a place (He
was denied admittance to the courtroom), and that admission
should be used for the wider sense of achieving entry to a group
or institution (her admission to the club; China's admission to
the United Nations). There is no harm in observing this
distinction, though it is often ignored. But admission is much
more common in the sense “a fee paid for the right of entry”:
The admission to the movie was five dollars.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=admittance

Part of which says:

Usage: Admittance, Admission. These words are, to some extent,
in a state of transition and change. Admittance is now chiefly
confined to its primary sense of access into some locality or
building. Thus we see on the doors of factories, shops, etc. No
"admittance." Its secondary or moral sense, as "admittance to
the church," is almost entirely laid aside. Admission has taken
to itself the secondary or figurative senses; as, admission to
the rights of citizenship; admission to the church; the
admissions made by one of the parties in a dispute. And even
when used in its primary sense, it is not identical with
admittance. Thus, we speak of admission into a country,
territory, and other larger localities, etc., where admittance
could not be used. So, when we speak of admission to a concert
or other public assembly, the meaning is not perhaps exactly
that of admittance, viz., access within the walls of the
building, but rather a reception into the audience, or access to
the performances. But the lines of distinction on this subject
are one definitely drawn.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998
MICRA, Inc.

Fictional vs. Fictitious
========================

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fictional

Part of which says:

adj 1: related to or involving literary fiction; "clever
fictional devices"; "a fictional treatment of the train
robbery" [ant: nonfictional] 2: formed or conceived by the
imagination; "a fabricated excuse for his absence"; "a fancied
wrong"; "a fictional character"; "used fictitious names"; "a
made-up story" [syn: fabricated, fancied, fictitious, invented,
made-up]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fictitious

Part of which says:

adj 1: formed or conceived by the imagination; "a fabricated
excuse for his absence"; "a fancied wrong"; "a fictional
character"; "used fictitious names"; "a made-up story" [syn:
fabricated, fancied, fictional, invented, made-up] 2: adopted in
order to deceive; "an assumed name"; "an assumed cheerfulness";
"a fictitious address"; "fictive sympathy"; "a pretended
interest"; "a put-on childish voice"; "sham modesty" [syn:
assumed, false, fictive, pretended, put on, sham]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

And, even though this wasn't part of the original discussion,
but since you threw it in to your "but that's they way I was
taught" defense:

Normality vs. Normalcy
======================

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=normality

normality

n : conformity with the norm [syn: normalcy] [ant: abnormality]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

normalcy

n : conformity with the norm [syn: normality] [ant: abnormality]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

I'm fairly sure others will join the thread to correct or
contradict me.