13 July 2010

"Orient" vs "orientate" - further discussion

I would only use "orient," but according to some reputable sources, both of these two words are considered appropriate.
Orient (v) and orientate (v) are all but interchangeable. Even the OED entry for orientate is “=orient”. Both words have a literal meaning: “position or align to face east or, by extension, in any specified direction or relative to some other defined data; or ascertain the bearings of”; and a figurative meaning: “bring into a defined relationship to known facts or principles”...

The shorter verb dates from 1727; the longer one came later, in 1849, when it was printed in the very same journal that seems to have introduced orientation. Since then, orientate has been used by writers such as Aldous Huxley, Margaret Mead, Tennessee Williams, and Randolph Quirk, but this has not stopped it from being criticised...

The antonyms disorient and disorientate date from 1655 and 1704, respectively; again they are virtually synonymous.
More at Sentence first - a blog that "wordies" will love to explore.

Addendum:  Sentence first has published a followup post to address the arguments that "orientate" is "not a word" and that simple forms of words are always preferable to longer versions.
This is rubbish. To cite one example, which was supplied in a subsequent comment, the trisyllabic burglarize is preferred to the tidy burgle in U.S. English. A post I wrote last year about the differences and similarities between orient and orientate shows that despite being widely censured in U.S. English, orientate is standard in British English, has been around since the mid-19th century, and has been used by careful writers for decades...

If you see or hear someone reject a word by saying it’s “not a word”, you can reasonably assume that they mean it’s not a word they like, not a word they would use, not a word in standard usage, not a word in a certain dictionary, not a suitable word for the context, and so on. There’s a difference, and it matters...

Neologisms, jargon, and words that shift function (e.g. verbings) attract particular condemnation. New words can seem ugly, pointless, or ridiculous at first, but over time, many have snuck into standard usage. I’m not arguing for the default acceptance of all newcomers, but by tolerating them long enough to assess them without prejudice, we can reorient(ate) ourselves to new linguistic possibilities. Peevers: criticise pet-hate words if you must, but don’t assume that you’re right and that people who use them are lesser beings. Repressive lexi-quibbling overlooks the fact that language is fiercely playful and productive. It invites our creativity. Wordnik’s Erin McKean put it succinctly: “If it seems wordish, use it.”
Much more at the link.

11 comments:

  1. Orient is US English. Orientate is British. I don't know how the Commonwealth countries are orient(at)ed. Generally, in the US, people who say "orientate" are, um, not terribly good at language.

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  2. I agree with Phyllis. I came across a similar problem in England when I was studying abroad there, only with acclimate vs. acclimatize. Technically, they mean the same thing, but the first is American English while the second is British English.

    I think the difference between Orient and Orientate comes from the British use of the word "Orient" to mean a geographical area, or the Far East. To make this noun a verb, you add "-ate" to the end. Like gravity becomes gravitate.

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  3. I suppose this means that "conversate" will be accepted one of these days.

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  4. Irregardless, orientate seems like a fine option.

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  5. I don't remember where I read it and so can't substantiate it, but I looked into this some years ago and found that "orientate" had to do specifically with the placement of an object in relation to other objects, whereas "orient" had to do with a more general focus. This fits with the first two examples in the link you posted (though not so much with the others):
    History orients us to the present.
    In the thick fog, only sounds helped him orientate himself.

    So saying something like "I'm very family-orientated" would be incorrect. Unless, of course, the only difference is that one is British and the other US American.

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  6. Christina's post is how I have always understood the definitions. As an aside, it is one of my work pet peeves. I'm a nurse and I hate when someone says the patient is "alert and orientated." I always think to myself, "which direction are they pointing?"

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  7. Irregardless or just Regardless?

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  8. Barbwire, it is not uncommon for m'colleagues and I to conversate on the topicification of etymology. We've activatated many argumentationalities regarding 'orientated'. We are conclusionary in our decisionation that it is a perfectly cromulent word.

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  9. Do other languages do this? That is, absorb/ create/ modify to extend the vocabulary the way English does so much?

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  10. Amy, thanks for the best laugh I've had in quite a while!

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  11. @Anonymous: yes, the british use "orient" to refer to the east. That's what it means.
    Churches are orientated toward the orient.
    Whereas, the folk who say "acclimate", and "irregardless", are in the occident.
    To align with the occident would, one assumes, be occidentation. Hm. Never thought of that one before.

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