routinize.
“Routinize” (= to develop into a regular schedule) is pronounced either /ROO-tuh-nIz/ or /roo-TEE-nIz/. Although this word (dating from the early 1920s) sometimes smacks of gobbledygook, it’s also difficult to replace — e.g.:
o “The raunchiness that some, at least, admired in the earlier book has been replaced by routinized descriptions of the hydraulics of moderately unroutine sex.” K. Anthony Appiah, “Identity Crisis,” N.Y. Times, 17 Sept. 1995, § 7, at 42.
o “Moreover, teachers can be trained to teach a particular subject, texts can be targeted, and many lessons can be standardized and techniques routinized.” Albert Shanker, “Education Reform: What’s Not Being Said,” Daedalus, 22 Sept. 1995, at 47.
For information about the Language-Change Index, click here.
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Quotation of the Day: “Above all, when choices of words and style generally confront you, choose what sounds most natural to you. That will reflect you more, including your own tendency to be absolute about words, for that is part of your individuality too. In the long run, choosing what you think sounds natural will contribute more to style than choosing what you think you are expected to choose.” Thomas Cain, Common Sense About Writing 128 (1967).
