GalacticCactus Forum
Forums => English & Linguistics => Topic started by: Ela on February 29, 2008, 10:21:37 AM
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For the first time today, I saw forms of the word "incentive" used as a verb.
"Let's incent people to register for our conference by offering an early-bird discount."
"Incenting people to register by offering an early-bird discount is a great idea."
"We incented early registrants last year by offering the opportunity to attend a special event."
So, is "incent" a verb now? My husband says he's heard this usage before but it sounds weird and wrong to me.
What do others think?
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I can't say I've heard it before, but it seems straightforward and the meaning is obvious. I think it's fine.
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Of course not! Just ask Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Incents and peppermints, meaningless nouns.
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I've heard it before, and I dislike it, too. What ever happened to incentivize?
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What ever happened to incentivize?
The same thing that happened to utilizie.
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For those to be really analogous, we'd have to have a new verb util or ute.
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Or use.
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But that's not analogous for multiple reasons. Use entered the English lexicon about 600 years before utilize, and though the two are related, neither is simply a form of the other—use comes from a different form of the stem and took a different evolutionary path.
Incent, on the other hand, is simply a backformation of incentive which came after incentivize had already been coined. Also, incent and incentivize appear to be completely interchangeable, while use and utilize are not, despite their overlap.
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I've heard it before, and I dislike it, too. What ever happened to incentivize?
Incentivize is alive and well in the DoD.
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Incentivize is a real word?? I have to say I've never heard that one.
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I know. It sounds to my ears exactly like utilize.
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It's not "incentivate"?
"Incentiary"?
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Incentivize is a real word?? I have to say I've never heard that one.
Yup (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incentivize)—a relatively recent coinage. And incent (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incent) was a little more recent. They both sound like business jargon to me, much like utilize, but incent sounds about ten times worse to my ears.
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So they're both real words, Jon? Wild.
I must be getting old. :lol:
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As real as anything else, I suppose.
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My husband told me he has never heard "incentivize" but he has heard "incentify."
(My spellcheck doesn't like either of these words.)