skunked term; was RE: Define Epigeal and Hypogeal

Adam Fikso adam14113@ameritech.net
Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:26:13 PST

I love that:  "Skunked term"  Thanks Jim. Will send it on to my wordsmith 
frends.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com>
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 8:32 AM
Subject: [pbs] skunked term; was RE: Define Epigeal and Hypogeal


Those of you who had the patience to read through the posts dealing with the
meanings of the terms epigeal and hypogeal deserve a bonus.



As it turns out, it's not unusual for terms to acquire meanings which vary
among different usage groups; sometimes these variant meanings are mutually
contradictory. The word clone provides a good example.



For writers, such terms pose a big potential problem: if several meanings
are attached to a term, how will readers know which of the several meanings
is intended? As a result, careful writers either avoid such terms or use
them with enough supporting material to make the intended meaning clear.
Some of you perhaps think I overdid the "supporting material" in my posts on
this topic. Well, now you know why.



There is a name for such a term: skunked term. You can read about it here:



http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/…



Scroll down to "Skunked Terms".



Enjoy!



Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7

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