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WYSIWYG

By Peter Lloyd

Any innovator who wants to break new ground should never hesitate to question authority. This is not a call to rebellion but a call to common sense--authorities are so often wrong. And if they happen to be right, they're usually way behind.

Forever catching up on yesterday's new ideas, authorities have no choice
but to resist today's new ideas. Which is why inventors, innovators, artists, and all creative thinkers are always challenging authority. Not just to be obnoxious.

Take one of our most common authorities, the dictionary. Open
it to any page. I'll bet you're familiar with more than half the words on that or any page. What good is a book that tells you, for the most part, what you already know?

Especially if it does not contain words you need to know?

Let's say, back in the 90s you were reading an ad for a computer program, and it claims to have "true wysiwyg capability." No matter how up-to-date your dictionary was at the time, you wouldn't have found wysiwyg. What if you had wanted to spell or define ska or transumer today? Sorry. Try Word Spy.

Of course, if still not sure about the word cow, you're in luck. It's still there. You might even find cash cow now, a term that strayed into the language a long time ago. That's only slightly faster than calling the public library.

Even though it's hardly news, the good word is, Wiktionary. Language users keeping track of the language they use. What a concept!

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.
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