An onus we writers have is to be very deliberate with our wording.

I was reminded of this recently when I saw one of my favorite pet peeves: the improper use of the word “infinite.”

I am a technical person, so my pet peeve rears its ugly head when I see someone use “infinite” to describe a feature that allows for “continuous” control or adjustment. This is typically when someone is describing a speed control that has a range from zero to 1,000 RPM and can be finely tuned to any speed in between. This, as opposed to a control that only allows for speed control to the nearest hundred RPM – like 100, 200, 300 and so on.

The range of 0 to 1,000 is not the same as infinite– which means “without end.” You can’t set it to 1,001 RPM  or -10 RPM for example. There is an upper and lower bound.

Now, it could be argued that there is an infinite number of speeds between zero and 1,000 RPM much in the same way there are infinite decimal numbers between 0 and 1,000. However, that is not true from a practical standpoint. 500 RPM and 500.0000001 RPM likely have no tangible difference in most applications. Or we could take the decimals out to a point where we would hit physical limitations of the motor before we exhaust infinity.

So, my term for this kind of controller situation is “continuous.”   That makes a lot more sense to me

Should this bother me? No, probably not.

But should a writer pay attention to details like this? Yes, I think we need to be good stewards of the language and take responsibility for such details.

But there are a couple of ways to look at such a thing:

1. We should be diligent about using words in the manner in which the dictionary defines them.
2. We should be faithful to the way in which it is used in practice, by the audience at large and the culture in which our story finds itself.

The first is easy to understand, but what do I mean by the second point? This is basically another way of saying “Write to your audience.” If I find that the group I am writing toward uses the word infinite instead of continuous, I may actually confuse that audience when I use the technically correct term. Note that there is another choice: I could describe the speed control using both terms, such as “…the motor is infinitely adjustable over a continuum of between 0 and 1000 RPM.” A bit wordy, but you get the idea.

There is a 3^rd (and probably the most fun) way in which specific words can be selected and that is the manner in which characters in your stories use language.  If the word “dog” is redefined to mean something we would never use it for — say, a sunspot — then this builds a lot of interesting dynamics to the world in which your characters find themselves.

Note that word redefinition should not be random, but make sense within that world and have some sort of natural, organic beginning and evolution. For example, maybe in the world in which “dog” means “sunspot” there was a historical event where a scientist determined how to use labradoodles to detect solar activity. OK, I am being a bit silly, but I think you see where this line of thinking is going.  There should always be a reason for the words used within a language.

What you think? Should we writers be dogmatic and stick to the dictionary approved usage for words or can we take liberties by using the words the audience may related to or redefine words to mean something else entirely within in our stories?

Grok your understanding in the comments below.

-James