Is There a Cure for 'Curate'? on Creators.com

Recently

Plural Questions Have No Easy Antlers Q. I drive a school bus, and this morning one of my seventh graders said to me, "Monte, did you see those deers on the side of the road?" I explained to him that certain words, like "deer," are both singular and plural. Why is that? — Monte …Read more. Send in the Nouns Q. I was taught that the possessive should be used before nouns ending in "-ing." For example, one would say, "Your laughing ruined the mood," rather than, "You laughing ruined the mood." Yet it always seems that people are using the latter rather …Read more. 'Lay' or 'Lie'? Oh My! Q. Has it become acceptable to use "lay" instead of "lie," as in "the dog is laying down"? I hear and see many reporters, journalists and other well-educated people using "lay" for "lie." — Hilde Reichenbach, Essex, Conn. A. Hilde, I hereby …Read more. Clarity Is Not an Option Today, three dispatches from the Word Front... —Double Talkers — Bill from Acton, Mass., notes the double meaning of a sentence from the rules governing public meetings in his town. They state that people must speak politely and …Read more.

Is There a Cure for 'Curate'?

Once upon a time, "curate" was a nice, quaint little word. Derived from the Latin "cura" (care), it meant a clergyman who took care of a small, often rural parish. As a verb, it meant to select and organize objects in a museum or exhibition.

That was then.

In today's trendy jargon, "curate" has become the all-purpose buzzword for managing any kind of enterprise. Business executives now curate projects, lawyers curate cases, and bankers curate accounts. Will stockbrokers soon sell "curated funds" instead of "managed funds"?

Ground zero in the curate-ification movement is the emerging upscale exurb of Hudson, N.Y., where, The New York Times reports, you can now stay at a "curated" bed and breakfast. A chance, perhaps, to share scrambled eggs with the local curate?

No such luck. Hudson's "curated B&Bs;" showcase artwork, furniture and antiques for purchase by guests. One Hudson store that sells everything from farm tables to jewelry calls itself "Finch — Life Curated."

Why am I thinking of a stuffed songbird? Come to think of it, I'm not sure I want my life curated.

Speaking of The New York Times, an advertisement for The New York Times Store offers jewelry, scale-model ships and other knickknacks that have been "Curated for the Art Lover." Commerce, meet curation.

Google's N-gram search engine, which tracks the frequency of a word's use over time, shows the popularity of "curate" peaked in the 1840s when rural parishes were still thriving but dropped steadily during the 1900s.

Then, in about 2002, "curate" suddenly surged in use, reflecting the current expansion of the word to many realms.

So, as trusted curators of the language, should we condemn this extension of "curate"? After all, it's yet another example of a word's being plucked from a provincial, esoteric or technical field and then deployed as a general term for a wide variety of activities.

Other examples of such popularization include "parameter" and "quantum leap" (from science), "beg the question" (from logic), and "artisanal" (from craftsmanship), a word now used to describe everything from cheese to breadcrumbs.

On the other hand, this semantic expansion of "curate" represents a natural and logical extension of a good old English word and sprinkles even the most mundane act of administration with the fairy dust of tender loving care.

Go forth, be fruitful, and curate!

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254