Jaton West
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I think a very, very few cases make sense - such as 'friend' when you're using it explicity in the context of Facebook. When you mean it in some other context, then 'befriend' or 'make friends with' is much better. Otherwise, the misuse/re-purposing of words drives me to total distraction. For example, for decades I worked in the field of 'Information Security' -- now it has become 'Information Assurance.' First, there's absolutely no need for a new term for this field. Second, and equally important, is that 'assurance' is absolutely NOT the right word! You clearly do not simply want to pat someone on the shoulder and say, "There, there. Your information is going to be just fine. Don't worry your pretty little head for a tiny second about it." There is already enough confusion among the 'sure' words -- ensure, insure, and assure -- without introducing a totally new twist. Further, if different people have different meanings for the same word, that makes communication so much more difficult. There are already plenty of words that have multiple meanings, and using them can introduce ambiguity, so why add to this problem? Further, over time, writers of today will be misunderstood by readers of tomorrow. It's one thing not be be able to readily decipher Beowulf; it's quite another not to be able to understand something written 10 years ago, by a writer who may even still be alive. Language is initially totally arbitrary - at some time some one decided that 'chair' is the word to describe a particular type of furniture that you sit on. But once a word acquires a shared understanding, there's really no need to change its definition, or to come up with a new word that means the same thing.