It is? I always thought it sounded American, like something George W. Bush would say. “Darn it, I’ve gotten myself all misorientated.”
“certified” vs “certificated”. The FAA uses “certificated” a lot in its regulations. I think it is a stupid word.
<snert>
I see no difference in the sated/satiated pair.
“Orientated” to me carries the connotation of intentional motion – while something may be oriented east-west simply as a state of being, something which has been orientated has been moved to align with something else (such as a direction) with purposeful action involved. It’s not so much a distinction in denotative meaning as it is a usage question – “oriented” does not carry the sense of purposive alignment that “orientated” does.
We three kings who orientate
With gifts we move at a rapid rate
Watching, waiting, then rotating
Following reindeer eight.
I am definitely at risk of doing that. I once spent an evening annoying my husband (that’s what they’re for, right?) by declaring that everything was “awesome”. The wine? Awesome. The food? Awesome. The movie? Awesome.
I now use that word way too much, and it still annoys the hell out of him!
I agree. orientated and disorientated just sound terrible. They sound like make-it-sound-important talk: (police officer talking on camera) “the suspect was observed in an automobile vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed but was highly disorientated when confronted by a deputy”.
smack:
I seem to hear nurses talk about their patient being alert and orientated while doctors consider him alert and oriented. This may reflect my personal observer bias.
I despise “orientated,” unless (as I’ve commented to many clinicians over many years, the patient is turned toward the east). It seems to me any distinction has been lost.
My recollection is that “orientate” used to be English English but not correct for American English. I guess it’s crept into the dictionary because people were (wrongly) using it, so now it’s a word in American English that means exactly the same as the (correct) word orient.
On imaginativity, I’m all in favor. Such combinations are called portmanteau words (see Lewis Carroll) – such as frivial (combining trivial and frivolous) or chortle (from chuckle and snort).
*Preventive * and *preventative *.
Whereas to me as a British speaker of English, orientate seems right, proper and correct. When I see the word oriented on paper, my brain automatically reads it in an American accent.