[Editors] Grammatical question

[Tom Pixton]

"Planful" .... yikes, that's even more atrocious than "iffy" or  
"impactful" as adjectives, or "liaise" as a verb ....

On Apr 25, 2007, at 10:01 AM, Marilyn C Wilson wrote:

Rage, rage against the fading of the light!

Quoting Lois Slavin <lslavin at MIT.EDU>:

> "Learnings" is corporate verbiage - commonly used in this realm, as is
> "planful" and several other atrocities.
>
>  _____
>
> From: Violeta Ivanova [mailto:violeta at MIT.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 7:04 PM
> To: lslavin at mit.edu
> Cc: MIT Editors
> Subject: Re: [Editors] Grammatical question
>
>
> Dear Lois et al.:
>
> On behalf of all engineers who respect the English language, may I  
> ask what
> you mean by "shared their learning"? Did they learn together (i.e.  
> "they
> shared the process of learning") or did they share their knowledge  
> (i.e.
> "they shared what they had learned")?
>
> I can think of no case where using "learnings" or "learning's"  
> would be the
> best word choice. But I never majored in English, so what do I  
> know ... When
> in doubt, I read my Strunk & White.
>
> Regards,
> Violeta Ivanova CE'95
>
>
> On Apr 24, 2007, at 3:29 PM, Lois Slavin wrote:
>
>
> Is the following use of "learnings" correct?
>
> "....shared their learnings with other companies......."
>
> I have a colleague who says it should be "learning's". He was an  
> English
> major in college, not an engineer, so I thought I'd better check  
> with this
> group!
>
> Thanks.
> Lois
>
>
>
> Lois Slavin
> Communications Director
> MIT Engineering Systems Division
>
>
>
> 77 Massachusetts Avenue
> E40-315
> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
>
>
>
> Tel. 617.253.0812
> Fax: 617.253.1462
> WWW:  <http://esd.mit.edu/> http://esd.mit.edu
> http://esd.mit.edu/Esd_Staff/Lois/lslavin.htm
> _______________________________________________
> Editors mailing list
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>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Violeta M Ivanova, Ph.D.
> Office of Educational Innovation & Technology
> Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education
> http://web.mit.edu/violeta/www
> 617.252.1383
>
>
>


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Tom Pixton
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tpixton at mit.edu
Publishing Services Bureau
Massachusetts Institute of Technology



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