Word of the day: pixelation/pixilation

My version of Microsoft Word automatically changes 'pixelation' to 'pixilation'. That's annoying, but it's also interesting – for three reasons.

1. Word doesn't automatically correct 'pixelate' to 'pixilate'. Why the inconsistency?

2. In contrast to Word, the OED Concise prefers the 'e' spellings; that is, it gives 'pixilate' as a variant of 'pixelate' rather than the other way round. (It gives 'pixellate' as another variant, but doesn't suggest 'pixillate' at all. Shame.)

3. My OED also defines 'pixilated' as "crazy; confused" and "drunk (informal, dated)". It adds: "Origin C19: var. of pixie-led, lit. 'led astry by pixies', or from PIXIE, on the pattern of words such as elated."

So does Microsoft Word change my 'pixelation' because it assumes that I'm writing about pixies rather than pixels? I think the programmers must have been away with the fairies...

Blogger error: 'Try going back and re-trying'

This Blogger error message made me smile (click to see a larger version):



In essence: 'What you want to do has already been done, so try going back and re-trying...'

And I suppose it highlights the difference between 'try' meaning 'test in order to see if it is suitable, effective or pleasant' ("try going back one page in your browser") and 'try' meaning 'make an attempt or effort to do something' ("and re-trying"). At least that was how I read it; I can understand if your reading is different.

Both definitions of 'try' came from my Concise OED, 10th Edition, by the way.

'Dialogue' as a noun. Or possibly not

Spotted in a recent piece of corporate communication:

I have already made a personal commitment to dialogue with the union about the changing environment we face

Is this an example of 'dialogue' as a verb or just an example of 'commitment to' + noun?

I've never come across the former before, although it is listed in my Concise OED: "v. chiefly N Amer. take part in dialogue."

Oxymorons: 'And now for our morning matinée..'

While JD spends his days plying his trade in the engine room we used to share I've fallen into bad habits, such as watching too much daytime TV. Most of it slides into one ear and out t'other but this morning I caught a presenter introducing what turned out to be a dismal Randolph Scott western with the phrase: "And now for our morning matinée..."

This had me smirking because everyone knows that a matinée is an afternoon performance so a morning matinée is, like military intelligence, an oxymoron*. The funny thing is that matin being French for morning, the English usage of the word matinée is in itself a solecism, if you happen to be a Frenchman (perish the thought).

While I had my OED Concise to hand I looked up the word oxymoron to find it's derived from the Greek words oxy (sharp) and moros (dull) so the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron, which will hardly be a coincidence.

From the numerous lists of oxymorons online I culled a few that, while not necessarily accurate, made me smile:

• accordion music

• active retirement

• airline food

• French resistance

• German humour

• American culture

• adult male (courtesy of Mrs Apus)

* Confession: With my brain softened from inactivity I couldn’t bring the word oxymoron to mind. Fortunately JD’s younger, more agile mind was only a phone call away.

Awkward verbs: to rota

A while back I blogged about how 'pro rata' makes an awkward verb as there seems to be no consensus on how the past participle should be written.

I've just thought of another, similar-sounding verb that poses the same problem: 'rota'. Although the Concise OED lists 'rota' as a noun only ("Chiefly Brit. A list showing times and names for people to take their turn to undertake certain duties"), I have heard it used as a verb to mean something along the lines of 'to put into a rota'.

And no, I'm not imagining it: after quite some searching I managed to find a Personnel Today question-and-answer page in which a respondent ('BKay') writes:

Because we work a 7 day week if anyone is rotad to work a b/hol they get the day back in lieu

This writer has chosen 'rotad' as the past participle of 'rota' but I can see arguments for 'rotaed' or even 'rota'd'. What do you reckon?

And are there any other English verbs out there (apart from 'pro rata' and 'rota') whose spelling ends in a consonant and then the letter 'a'?