The Words to be Used

that extent. There is a gradual process o f change in w hich can be traced

the drift from the orthodox connotation. This chapter is m uch concerned
w ith w ords which manifest that drift. We are considering the questions:
W hat are the spoilt w ords o f today, the w ords damaged by being
misunderstood, and the w ords whose meaning is dissipated in lax over
use? It w ould take a very long list to contain them all. But we have already
considered several in this chapter and w e can pick out a few m ore o f the
most glaring examples. Over-use is not, o f course, an arithmetically
calculable matter. If you w ork in a restaurant, you and your colleagues
may use the w ord table thousands of times a year w ithout affecting the
meaning o f the w ord in the slightest. Here we are concerned w ith the
kind o f over-use w hich weakens and distorts meaning.
access
W e accept that, largely perhaps through the influence of the com puter
world, the noun access has taken new life as a verb.
It is part of our policy to present visual art to people who might not normally
visit a gallery by accessing through other artforms.
My dictionary classifies access as a transitive verb that requires an object.
One accesses a source o f inform ation on the internet. But in the sentence
here we do not know w hat is being accessed nor w ho is accessing. The
grammar suggests that our policy is to help people by accessing
through other artforms. But in the back o f the m ind one guesses that it
is the people w ho are being helped w ho will be able to access something
unspecified.
address
There are contexts w here this is the exact w ord needed. Used o f putting
the appropriate directions on an envelope or o f speaking formally to an
audience, it is not replaceable. But the w ord is now being used where
better w ords are available.
At last the editor has addressed an issue which is of vital importance to all
of us.
Thus people speak o f addressing issues, situations, problem s, and
the like where they m ight better use verbs such as deal w ith, tackle,
attend to , cope w ith or even study. I have just heard a BBC Radio 4
com m ent on a report about the treatment o f cancer by the National