Risks to the language ...

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rmslade () shaw ca>]

Online tends to take priority, so I am only today reading (and discarding) old trade 
rags on the mail pile.  One is "Security" magazine for January of this year.

The back page editorial, by the editor (probably senior editor) of the magazine 
starts out with the words, "There are five basic tenants that can mitiage risk ..."  
(Lest you think it is just a slip, the second sentence starts out, "Those tenants are 
...")

No, she's not talking about renting space out to security companies.  What she 
means is "tenets."  Which the OED tells us is "noun: a principle or belief, 
especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy."  (Posibly she's 
older than she looks, since, prior to the 16th century, it was "tenent," from the 
Latin "tenere," to hold.  In which case she can't spell.)

I suppose someone will blame it on autocorrect.  But it's the first two sentences of 
the piece!  Surely someone would have noticed!  (No, they didn't.  And stop 
calling me "Shirley.")

OK, as someone who wrote a dictionary, I'm probably over-reacting.  However, we 
already have enough trouble in our field with people making up words and 
hijacking the meaning of words and phrases we already have.  We don't need 
mangled English, as well.

====================== 
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
"If you do buy a computer, don't turn it on."     - Richards' 2nd Law
"Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses"              0-387-94663-2
"Viruses Revealed"                                      0-07-213090-3
"Software Forensics"                                    0-07-142804-6
"Dictionary of Information Security" Syngress           1-59749-115-2
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Security Educ.: [Base URL]comseced.htm
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