I have a relative and some friends who work at the Field Museum here in Chicago. In discussions with them, every once in a while reference will be made to a “preparator” - the person who "prepares’ material gathered in the field. For some reason that extra syllable always bugs me. Any idea why these folk aren’t simply called “preparers”?
It’s a genuine word, used since the 18th century.
The OED defines it as:
- One who makes a preparation; a preparer (of medicine, specimens, etc.).
The particular use of ‘preparation’ here seems to be:
- A specimen of a natural object specially prepared or treated for some scientific purpose; esp. an animal body or part of one prepared for dissection, or preserved for examination.
Right - I’m aware it is a real word. I just don’t understand why it is, or why it remains in such common use.
Because it sounds more professional and important.
IME (and I used to work in a museum) museum people also use “exhibition” more often than the simpler “exhibit.”
Are those two words exactly synonymous? To me, an “exhibition” can be a collection of “exhibits.” An “exhibition” is a collective thing, while “exhibit” can be a singular object. I mean, there often is overlap, but that’s what those words generally connote to me.
How do you feel about “prepper”? Or the word “preps” used as a noun?
Well, I guess if they pop their collar, or have a go bag… 
Popped collars and go bags are preppies. Preppers are people who are getting ready for the zombie apocalypse.
And all I can contribute to the OP is that “preparator” would be the standard Latin form for “one who prepares”. Maybe museum workers, back in the say, were academic enough that Latin was the standard language.
Is it in common use outside of museum employees? I’ve never heard it.
The Predator beats them both in a fight.
It’s easier to say than a word that ends in -erer. In IT we have tools that allow you to configure something and we call it a configurator. That’s somewhat humorous but also easier to say than configurer.
Some kind of Church Latin, maybe, but not “standard Latin”, which according to the dictionary would be “instructor”.
International influence is another reason. There is a certain international pressure on national languages. Due to language and cultural exchanges, it seems that certain words are in international use, meaning they look and sound similar in different languages. Various languages include very similar versions of the word preparator: Russian, Slovak, Polish, Serbian, Italian, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and probably others.
Somewhere, Serak the Preparer is shedding a single tear.
John the Preparator is one of my favorite songs.
Maybe the preparator has been certificated. Would anyone like to commentate on this?
As someone who often preperates exhibitations of posts on the SDMB, I think that we definitively need a certificator to validicate them.
Because it means something different and more specific than “preparer.” A preparer could be preparing anything, maybe soup. A preparator is specifically someone who prepares specimens for a museum.
Okay, but why are people who are paid to comment called “commentators” and not just “commenters”?
Commentate refers to a specific type of comment. From Merriam-Webster:
commentate: to comment in a usually expository or interpretive manner