Authoritative or authoritive? Dictionaries usually only have the entry "authoritative": 1. Having or arising from authority; official: an authoritative decree; authoritative sources. 2. Of acknowledged accuracy or excellence; highly reliable: an authoritative account of the revolution. 3. Wielding authority; commanding: the captain's authoritative manner. But what does "authoritive" mean?
Google it. It seems that "authoritive" has to do with "authorisation", while "auhtoritative" with "authority".
I thought so too, at first. But depending on what you take as the word formation basis, you can get two words: from "authority", you can make "authoritative" while from "author" or "authorize", you can make "authoritive". Interestingly, in German, the pair is "authoritativ" and "authorisierend", or in Slovene, "avtoritativen" and "avtorizacijski". There is a need for two distinct words, so why wouldn't English have both too?
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=authoritive&x=17&y=18 http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=authoritive both of these are reliable and i checked my own chambers dictionary. no entries. i tried it with microsoft spell check it is not an english or american word.
You use authoritative in either case. The words are closely linked and come from the same root. ~Raithere
English has no central authority (oops there's that word) like the French or Spanish Academy, so words become valid through usage. If enough people like "authoritive" it will become a word. However, it can only be a recent coinage, not an authentic word we inherited from Latin like "authoritative." The Latin root is "augere," to increase (compare English augment), whence "auctor," originator, whence "auctoritas," opinion. From there you're bound by the rather complex rules of Latin grammar. You can't drop the S, you can only change it to a T and form the adjective "auctoritativ-" with various case and gender endings. "Auctoritiv-" is not a legal word in Latin. But don't let that stop you. Obfuscation, bloviate, humongous, and bungee (which originally was pronounced without the soft G, like thingy) are completely made-up words and they're now in the dictionary.
Think of scuba and laser. both are acronyms that are so commonly used that they are accepted as words.
I don't hang that much with your generation. When you see LOL in your e-mail does the little voice in your head say "laughing out loud" (like mine does) or "ell-oh-ell" (name the letters, that makes it merely an abbreviation) or "loll" (pronounce it like a word, that makes it an acronym)?
Personally, I read it as "loll" (like a word) unless I am reading something typed to someone then i will spell it out or say the seperate words. But, in my head loll translates to laughing. It no longer adheres to the literal translation, and that is, in a way, what it has evolved into; an expresion of laughter, much in the same way as typing HA! or *chuckles*. Those last two are more descriptive in a way though...lol is more of a generalized term. Koreans and Japanese are imfamous for influencing net speak, mainly because of online games. The reason I make mention of this is "W". If you should see someone type 'W' in the near future, you will now know that it =lol. Apparently typing three characters took too much time for some, so they have started shortening it to 'W'.
"Lol" has become a word to me, sounds like it is spelt and it means "I'm mimmicing the kind of retard who would laugh at that". In a sentence- "Funbags lol". Edit- It also means "I acknowledge that you said something funny" or "I acknowledge I just said something funny" but ironically, despite it's origin, you wouldn't type it if you actually laughed out loud. Clearly "hahaha" would be appropriate in that situation. Lol is more for things which don't cause a laugh reaction, but rather a stonefaced "I get it, I knew you weren't serious" or "get it? I'm not serious". Lmao(elemayo) is more an acknowledgement of something a level above "lol" in how good it was, but again laughing has nothing to do with it. If someone said something particularly spot on and sharp about truthseeker it might warrant an lmao, or if someone really put their foot in their mouth and made a dick of themself it would warrant an lmao. It has to be very ironic, or outstanding in some way. But you don't have to actually laugh. Rotflmao(rothel-floffel) is the same except it has to be like too good to be true. It's more emphatic than lmao, and commonly followed by "!!!!11!11!". Lmao and Rotflmao are almost like insults really. There's a certain "take that!" element to them. "I'm out of control with laughter because you suck that hard" is what's implied. You're usually grimacing with disdain when typing them though. Mispelling any of the aforementioned is related to the "I'm a retard laughing at shit" sort of sarcasm.
Things like "lol" and "rotfl" are like blanks to me when I read. (English is my third language.) I find such "words" really disturbing.
English is my first language but I find most of these things unfathomable as well. I suppose I've acquired a modest vocabulary despite myself. BTW by the way, GTG got to go, BRB be right back, IM(H)O in my (humble) opinion. I think the only one I ever actually use myself is BTW. I'm sure some of those were explained to me. I can't imagine trying to figure them out in another language. Does your first language use the Roman alphabet? I can't even read words in the Cyrillic, Hebrew, or Greek alphabet without saying them out loud.
