Murder on the 'Orientate' Express

Rob Kyff
Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:00:00 -0800
Lifestyle

Q: Is "orientate" a valid word? I always thought it was just "orient," but I hear people say things like "I have to orientate myself." - A. LaCroix, New Britain, Conn.

A: "Orientate," which first appeared in English around 1850, is a needless variant of "orient." Because many people assume a longer word is always more impressive than a shorter one, "orientate" has ridden the Orientate Express to popularity in recent years.

People have also erroneously attached the pretentious "-ate" onto other words: "administrate" for "administer," "cohabitate" for "cohabit,""remediate" for "remedy," and "solicitate" for "solicit."
Updated: Wed Dec 10, 2025

Q: Is "orientate" a valid word? I always thought it was just "orient," but I hear people say things like "I have to orientate myself." - A. LaCroix, New Britain, Conn.

A: "Orientate," which first appeared in English around 1850, is a needless variant of "orient." Because many people assume a longer word is always more impressive than a shorter one, "orientate" has ridden the Orientate Express to popularity in recent years.

People have also erroneously attached the pretentious "-ate" onto other words: "administrate" for "administer," "cohabitate" for "cohabit,""remediate" for "remedy," and "solicitate" for "solicit."

When people sound like bloated, pretentious bureaucrats, it's often something they "-ate."

Q: Very often, TV sports reporters use "untracked" in a positive way, as in "The team got itself untracked." Don't they really mean "on track," as in "the train is on the track"? — Thomas Briggs, via email

A: Your confusion is understandable. When something goes off the track — whether it be an offense or the Orient Express — that's not usually a good thing.

But here, sportscasters are using "untracked" to mean "broken out of a bad pattern or track." So an offense that gets "untracked" has shaken itself loose from a rut or slump. Paradoxically, such an offense could also be described as "on track."

Q: I've noticed that more people are avoiding "-er" and "-est" at the end of adjectives. People say, "more kind and more gentle" versus "kinder and gentler." Any thoughts? — Leco Stover, Hamden, Conn.

Standard practice is that the comparatives and superlatives of single-syllable words are formed by adding "-er" or "-est" (fastest, highest), and that the comparatives and superlatives of words of more than one syllable are formed using "more" and "most" (more critical, most honest).

Using "more" and "most" with a single-syllable adjective sounds stilted and belabored, e.g., She's more smart than I am," "She's the most smart person in the room." Why not say "smarter" and "smartest"?

But sometimes single-syllable adjectives sound more natural with a "more," a "most" or an "-est," e.g., "She's more deft (not 'defter') than I am," or "My story seemed the most real of the three (not 'realest'). And sometimes two-syllable words sound more natural with "-er" and "-est" (gentler, narrower, quieter).

Above all, when choosing a comparative or superlative ending, select the form that sounds the most simple and naturalist ... er, simplest and most natural.