I have always been suspicious of the word orientation itself. The past passive participle of Latin orior is ortus, so the abstract nominal form should be ortion. But it is funny how one group gets its its up when you verb a noun, as happened with orient, and another comes down pseudo-medievally on back formations such as orientate. The OED (1st brick and mortar version) lists orientate without censure and provides citations from the mid 19th century. Surely long enough to allow its naturalization. I like the hue and heft of orientate but seldom use it unmockingly. But anything that stokes the peevological bonfires is A-OK with me.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.