Non-words

[Ron Nossaman]

Note please, that I painfully waited a full twenty three minutes and at
least a couple (that would be - two or so, rather than a mated pair, or
connected sub-parts {parts is parts, and should need no further
clarification}) of posts before commenting.

The word "thingees", when used correctly, should be quite acceptable as a
broad generic term - much like "item", to which I would expect no such
complaint, even though it is no more precisely definitive than "thingee".
The unfortunate fact that "thingee" isn't, perhaps, in your dictionary
doesn't seem to be at issue here, only the seeming lack of specificity. The
alternative to "thingee" would seem to me to either involve attempting to
locate at least two instances (for validation) of a descriptive technical
term for the intended item, process, or condition, wasting vast quantities
of time writing a full description of the item, process, or condition every
time it's alluded to, or simply make up a technical term of your own and
insert it into the correspondence in the appropriate places expecting to
either be corrected with accurate nomenclature, or to get away with it and
coin a new term. Oddly, I don't see much contribution toward volunteering
accurate technical nomenclature to replace the occasional use of the
thingee. I don't use "thingee" as a general purpose item because I normally
prefer to bluff my way through, inventing my own terms and concepts as
necessary when I don't know the approved nomenclature.    

Personally, I'd like to see a few more of the words that ARE in the
dictionary used more as they are defined, than as generalized "thingees".
Nearly every day, I read a sentence like this one starting "Nearly
everyday..." which, if I may be allowed a self-referential example to make
a point, is incorrect, though as I observed, nearly an everyday occurrence.
People seem to have trouble keeping their "there"s and "their"s apart and
in their proper places too. Mixing their "to"s and "too"s seems to be an
everyday thingee for some folks as well, or too, as is the case. Also,
though it seems to be of little importance (and therefor minimal concern)
to most folks, I like to use plenty of punctuation. You might have noticed.
It's cheap, easy to spell, and breaks up an otherwise bland and monotonic
sentence into a reasonable semblance of speech cadence - if there aren't
too many misused words that force the reader to backtrack and decipher. 

This isn't the last word on the matter, just a few that have been piling up
in the corner that I thought it was time to recycle.

Ron N