Is this a word?

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calendula

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DEMOTIVATE

eg.

his style of management demotivates his team

the lastest announcement was really demotivating


It's not in MW but I see it used commonly in business docs.

What d'ya think?

Deborah
 

rich

Horrible. Almost like saying dehorrible. Can't thing of a worse way to reverse the verb motivate. I know I'm not in your paticular coven of business-speak folks, but even the most tortured, least on the peckihg order of your managerial org would find it worth giggling about.
 

Jamesaritchie

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wordlancer said:
DEMOTIVATE

eg.

his style of management demotivates his team

the lastest announcement was really demotivating


It's not in MW but I see it used commonly in business docs.

What d'ya think?

Deborah
Truly awful. Business tends to murder the English language, and this is just one more kill.
 

Deleted member 42

wordlancer said:
DEMOTIVATE

eg.

his style of management demotivates his team

the lastest announcement was really demotivating


It's not in MW but I see it used commonly in business docs.

What d'ya think?

Deborah

It's evil. Really. Most management and business, and lots of marketing speak, are abuses of the English language. Even if you replace "demotivates" the rest of the sentence is not much better.

Be specific.
 

Fern

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Just a personal opinion, but since it isn't in the dictionary I don't think I'd use it in my writing. That said, put it in your search engine and you come up with all kinds of stuff.
 

Duncan J Macdonald

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Medievalist said:
But does it disincetivate you Reph? Does it?
Heh. Try "disincentivize."
My favorite business buzzphrase of the moment is "The data informs the process."
 

Chickenchargrill

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Firstly, it is in the OED.

I have no problem with it. I don't know, it might be a country/area thing.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Chickenchargrill said:
Firstly, it is in the OED.

I have no problem with it. I don't know, it might be a country/area thing.



Everything is in the OED, including words that should never be uttered by mortal man. The whole pint of the OED is to include pretty much every word there is, regardless of quality. It isn't a country/area thing. It's widely used. But it's a horrible word and horrible writing.

Writers really need to get way from the notion that because a word is in the dictionary it's an okay word to use. Especially when it's in the OED. The OED is NOT a style manual, and does not include words because they're good, useful, or needed. The OED is simply a history of word usage, and includes the good, the bad, the horrible, and "demotivate."

I don't care where you are in the world, or where you are in the country, using a word like "demotivate" makes you sound illiterate. It's a horrible, horrible word, and simply can't be used in a way that doesn't produce horrible writing.
 

Chickenchargrill

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First off, I am unlikely to use it in my writing. I said I have no problem with the word myself, because I have been demotivated and can not think of any better word to describe that. I was motivated to do the job I used to do, a job I used to love and put everything into, due to things I cannot discuss on here, my motivation was taken away. Go on then, give me a better word. One word to sum it up.

Second off, I said it was in the OED, because someone else said it wasn't in their dictionary.
 

Chickenchargrill

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Also, even if the word did not exist in any dictionary, who's to say what words you should and should not used?

If it is used in context, then the word is acceptable.

I would not use the word mardy throughout a book, but I would use it within dialogue or where the writing is in the first person.
 
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