It seems to me to be a word which could be used quite widely, actually. It describes a process for which no other word exactly suits. "Adaptation" implies "gradual (and perhaps evolutionary) change", while exaptation seems to mean "deliberate (and rapid) change". You haven't adapted your book to make a doorstop. You didn't actually change the book, per se, at all. Only it's location and usage changed. Therefore, you could easily say that it's been exapted.

And what the hell's wrong with "orientated" anyway?


The idiot also known as Capfka ...