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3dfxMM wrote:

Magnawing wrote:Orientate...you can orient something or you can determine it's orientation....orientate is NOT a word. I've had this discussion with several teachers throughout my childrens' school careers.

I only looked at online versions, but every dictionary that I could find disagrees with you on this one.

If you could find a dictionary that was 25+ years old, you would most likely find that "orientate" did not exist in the American English language until it became used so frequently (albeit incorrectly) that it has become accepted as a real word and included into dictionaries. Kind of like internet, and many other "words" that have weaseled their way into our daily language. Although, you will never hear me utter the word "orientate" unless it is to complain about people saying "orientate" when that actually mean "orient". I believe this came into general usage on college campuses when students would have to attend freshman "orientation"...they had to get "orientated" to the campus and college life. Maybe the first class should have been Grammar and the English Language?

Orientate...you can orient something or you can determine it's orientation....orientate is NOT a word. I've had this discussion with several teachers throughout my childrens' school careers.

I also get irked by their, there and they're. And don't get me started on accept vs. except and to, too, two. One of my biggest peeves is people who use "a" before words beginning with a vowel....you ate AN apple, not A apple.