Today on abcnews.com there was this story, about a woman who’s father had served in Vietnam, and how his war experience had affected her life, and the idiot doctor they interviewed had this to say (on page 2)
(bolding mine)
I know it isn’t a typo, either, because there is video footage that shows him saying this non-word.
WTF is it with people that they have to add extra syllables to words to make themselves sound smarter? I’ve had it. It’s the last straw. I’m calling bullshit on it right now.
It was bad enough having to put up with all the idiots who talk about “signage” when they really mean “sign”. It was bad enough listening to people talk about things needed to be “orientated” when they really meant “oriented”. It was definitely bad enough listening to people say “irregardless”, but this… this… :smack:
If you mean sign, say sign.
If you mean orient, say orient.
If you mean regardless, say regardless.
And you, Doctor Jackass, if you mean symptom, say symptom.
To all those who add extra, unnecessary syllables to words, I will now be correcting you. In public. Accompanied by rolling eyes and snorts of derision.
Um you do realize that Signs and Signage are two entirely distinct words for different things?
Sign describes a single display. Signs describes a collection of signs and indicates nothing as to their relative cohesiveness. Signage describes a organized collection of signs and by extension it can describe the artistic theme and implementation of display strategy.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
symp·to·ma·tol·o·gy
n. 1. The medical science of symptoms.
2. The combined symptoms of a disease.
[New Latin symptmatologia : Greek sumptma, sumptmat-, symptom; see symptom + Latin -logia, -logy.]sympto·mato·logi·cal (-mtl-j-kl) adj.
sympto·mato·logi·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical
symp·to·ma·tol·o·gy (smt-m-tl-j, smp-)
n.
The medical science of symptoms.
The combined symptoms of a disease.
Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary
Main Entry: symp·tom·atol·o·gy
Pronunciation: "sim§-t&-m&-'täl-&-jE
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -gies
1 : SYMPTOM COMPLEX
2 : a branch of medical science concerned with symptoms of diseases —symp·tom·at·o·log·i·cal /-"mat-&l-'äj-i-k&l/ or symp·tom·at·o·log·ic /-'äj-ik/ adjective —symp·tom·at·o·log·i·cal·ly /-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb
And besides, he wasn’t talking about the “medical science of symptoms” he was talking about her symptoms. Plain and simple symptoms. He pulled that word out of his asshole because he thought it would sound much more “doctor-like” and intelligent, but all it does is make him sound like a pompous blowhard.
And that’s minus 50 DKP to abcnews.com for misspelling the word, too.
This listing for signage isn’t going to make me stop thinking that people who use the word are idiots. Just use the word “sign” or “signs”. No extra added syllables necessary. I challenge you to come up with a sentence using the word “signage” where you couldn’t just use the word “sign” or “signs”.
“The highway exit sign that seemingly indicates you to move into the left lane when actually you need to stay in the second-from-left lane is an example of the consistently poor signage throughout the Seattle metropolitan area.”
I’m not going to disagree with you - everyone has pet peeve words that seem superfluous or just plain dumb, but I think the reason you’re getting nitpicked to death here is your OP’s claim that the words are “made up” rather than just stupid. Even symptomatology is valid in the context used - where he was likely describing a set of symptoms, rather than one singular symptom, of a condition (as validated by the second definition of the word).
Sorry, hit enter too soon. Grammatically, I suppose you could replace “signage” with “signs” in that sentence, but semantically it carries a different meaning. Using the word “signs” would imply that the signs themselves were badly made. You could even infer that it meant the signs were in poor repair. “Signage,” on the other hand, indicates that the problem is with the overall design and implementation of highway and road signs.
If we all actually started using the word “garbagerie” to mean “the place where we put the garbage”, it would eventually end up in the dictionary (or at least in a cromulent animated feature). That doesn’t mean it’s a good word, or a decent use of the English language.
The problem I have is with idiots using excess mouth-noises in a vain-glorious attempt to make themselves sound smarter than they really are. You know who uses the word “signage”? Idiot designer types who wear plaid pants and striped shirts with bowling shoes… Halfwits who shouldn’t ever be let out of the house, but who somehow convinced someone that they were an authority on something, and now are talking about the best place for “signage” in advertising or media campaigns.
OR
“The highway exit sign that seemingly indicates you to move into the left lane when actually you need to stay in the second-from-left lane is an example of the consistently poor signs throughout the Seattle metropolitan area.”
Same meaning… just no bullshit fake intelligentsia in my sentence.
Perhaps you could go back and re-read the definitions:
as in the plain and simple symptoms of the disease.
(Merriam-Webster also provides the similar definition: 1 : the symptom complex of a disease, which seems to be appropriate to the doctor’s remarks.
It is much more likely when a technical person falls into jargon that they are simply using words in the manner they use them among their peers rather than attempting to invent words to sound pretentious.)
Yeah, so the signs are shitty. Why not just say that? The problem is, we have shitty signs. Why bother with the extra syllable and say we have shitty signage?
