jeneralize

Now here I was thinking “Intelligencer” (as in the “The Seattle Post-Intelligencer”) was an example that the drive to create silly words like “prioritizer” has a long and ignoble history. In fact, an intelligencer is:

• one who conveys news or information
• a secret agent, an informer, or a spy

… according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

(Ooooooh, a secret agent…last night I re-saw “La Femme Nikita” - I want to be an underwear-clad innocent-looking chick sitting on the edge of a bathtub somewhere in Vienna, concealing a big (big!) gun under the suds.)

…okay, okay, focus. This whole newspaper thing might just be another proof that time enshrines usage, both bad and good.

I wonder what other weird old newspaper names might be lurking out there?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 20th, 2005 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Language is Funny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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