June 12, 2010
Paper avoids colloquialisms, neologisms and jargons. Tweet is all three
New York: How many of you cringe when you read the word tweet in almost every news story? Here's something for you. New York Times standards editor Phil Corbett sent out a memo banning the use of the word "outside of ornithological contexts".
"Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, 'tweet' has not yet achieved the status of standards English", wrote Corbett. He said the word was used at least 18 times in the newspaper in the past month and should be dropped. "We try to avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and jargon. And 'tweet' - as a noun or a verb, referring to messages on Twitter - is all three," added corbett.
However, even Corbett admitted that there was a possibility that the world could become common usage, like 'email', but it could just as easily fade into oblivion if twitter is supplanted by a new service. The word tweet has not been picked up by any major dictionary till now.
No comments:
Post a Comment