Information Research Weblog

Two current pet hates:

"around" - it must be idleness that causes people to use "around" so frequently in their texts - and idleness on the part of editors and publishers that allows them do so so. How anything, for example, can be "centred around", or "based around", I do not know. Surely a moment's reflection would reveal the idiocy of these usages?

"behaviours" - or, more usually, since this plague seems to infect the USA more than other parts of the world - "behaviors". Why turn what is generally a collective noun signifying a set of activities associated with a person, into a plural? What's the point of "information seeking behavio(ur)s" when it says nothing more than "information seeking behavio(u)r". It would be legitimate to refer to a person's "information seeking and searching behaviours" because one is then talking about two different sets of behaviour - but, usually, those using the plural form are only referring to one set.

End of grouse for today.