There is a problem with complexifier? How about normalcy (instead of normality), a word used by that man among men, Warren G. Harding?
What is troubling here is the number of people who just run their mouth on internet cites rather than first consulting a dictionary.
For the love of all that is good: according to the on-line Free dictionary (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/complexifier) "complexifier" is a noun that refers to "someone makes things complex."
According to the New York Times complexifier was already in verbal use among English speaking in Washington DC since at least 1984 when it was reported that:
Only last week, a new set of what some in the capital call ''complexifiers'' were introduced into the Administration's economic policy deliberations.
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/25/weekinreview/recovery-is-fading-at-a-crucial-time.html
1
The meaning was self evident and used perfectly. A single word that said it well.
40
How perplexifying.
13
What is more thought provoking is the use of semi-erect manhood and not penis. Even in 2019 the concept of manhood is still attached to a specific “organ”, and not a biologic or cultural state detached from the penis.
3
Umm, maybe having a side squeeze was the complexifier, Mr. Bezos?
1
Cooording to the Collins dictionary, it's a British word. Last I heard, they speak English there.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/complexify
2
I find this whole thing rather sesquipedalian.
5
Not so fast!
Complexifier is an English word, and here is the evidence from OED.
comˈplexify, v.
[f. L. complex-us + -fy.]
a.a trans. To make complex or complicated. rare.
1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 140 There is an underplot‥which complexifies the incidents.
b.b intr. To become (more) complex or complicated. rare.
1914 Geddes & Thomson Sex iv. 94 The tendency in matter to complexify.
Hence comˌplexifiˈcation, comˈplexifying, the action of becoming (more) complex or complicated; comˈplexified ppl.
_____________
If there is a verb "complexify", according to OED 4th Ed. there is, the factors, or people who makes things more complex can be said to be "complexifiers"
3
Ludwig Wittgenstein chuckles from the grave...
Heck, I kind of like the word. It's sort of logical.
And I have been called a "grammar nut."
2
@HH:
“What kind of man sends pictures like that?“
12 years ago, my reaction would have been the same as yours.
Nowadays, however, e-sharing nude self-portraiture with the object of one’s lust is as common as topping off your chia smoothie bowl with a flat white.
“What kind of man does this?“ Pretty much every pre-nursing-home-age man you know – – and a lot of women as well.
Just another perk of being the richest man in the world, you get to invent your own words. Nice.
1
Well hey, it's better than "selfie" and "sexting", and WAY better than "webinar". No non-marketer actually likes that word, ever. Kill it with fire.
And it's certainly better than "problematic", which sounds like some sort of automated annoyance generator that got lost on its way out of a 1990s infomercial.
"Tired of those boring days where nothing happens and your marriage is perfect? Introducing the Problematic 5000, the best way to turn your life into a total disaster! Use the Problematic 5000 to slice your free time, or dice your date nights! Turn its patented Plastic Dial™ to Turbo Mode™ and it can even make salad out of your office presentations! Only 3 easy payments of $59.99! But wait! Order right now and we'll DOUBLE the offer! That's TWO Problematic 5000s, for a life that's twice as awful, for just $179.97! Here's how to order..."
1
On November 25 1984 Peter T. Kilborn of the New York Times had already published the word complexifier alas in quotes in an article with the title:
RECOVERY IS FADING AT A CRUCIAL TIME
Peter wrote:
Only last week, a new set of what some in the capital call ''complexifiers'' were introduced into the Administration's economic policy deliberations.
This suggest the word was has been in use verbally in English at least since 1984.
1
Never heard it before but it made sense when I saw it. I can't imagine why a copy editor would want to change it.
To those of us who write via dictation, “complexifier“ is not a word. “Complexifier” will join the language only if and when ultimate arbiter Siri says so. Right now, she stubbornly transcribes this nerdy newcomer as “complex a fire.”
Someone indicates the existence of American English, presuming such to be a real language ???
Perish the thought; the utterances we hear, here in America, are a kind of pidgin english spoken by individuals far to lazy, uninformed, and with nary a concern that their pidgin vocabulary is far removed from true english.
If grunts were still acceptable the streets would be a cacophony of guttural noises, and come to think of it, the creature posing as our President is a beautiful example of lazy uninformed pidgin speakers making up 40% of our electorate.
I do so love the English language; one can very quickly paint a picture which is by no means a "complexifier"
Sen. Danial Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) used the word complexifier in 1989. According to Richard P. Nathan's presidential address to the American Public Policy and Management Society in 2005, "Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in a moment of frustration with me at a 1989 Senate hearing on welfare reform, said I am a 'complexifier.'" Nathan, "'Complexifying' Performance Oversight in American Governments," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 24, No. 2, 207-215 (2005). In 1989 Nathan was HEW deputy undersecretary for welfare reform. In 2005 he was director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government and professor of political science and public policy at the State University of New York at Albany.
I like this guy.
Complexifier. Hmm. We may have misunderestimated the ol’ interwebs book seller guy.
-GWB
And handily it will come just before covfefe in my dictionary of weird words given life on Twitter.
As in, the word “complexifier” is a complexifier.
It's utterly stupificational.
New movie:
It’s Complexified!
Is it a verb or an adjective?
The verb "complexify" and its various conjugations are in Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition. That dictionary gives a date of 1830. (But it's not in the dictionary of the spell checker used in my browser, Vivaldi 2.3). The noun form "complexifier" is thus a logical extension of a fairly old verb that's common enough to appear in a popular abridged dictionary. An article about it hardly merits any column-inches (or kilobytes) in the New York Times.
1
Oh please! If simplifier is a word, and it is, then so is complexifier. Catch up with language, dude!
This is how the English language grows.
It's a real "perplexifier," to be sure...
Doubleplusgood!
What a dumb column.
Whether it is a French word or a Silicon Valley Newspeak word, it's meaning was certainly plenty clear and apt, given the situation.
Go Bezos!
NYT, you are full of covfefe!
How ironic! The founder and boss of an online shopping simplifier goes out and buys himself something he calls a complexifier.
1
I'm feeling complexificated now.
How about "complicator"?
e.g. "Is the employee a simplifier or a complicator?"
Et oui mes petits ricains, it's a big world with many languages. I find it refreshing to see a person with a semblance of intelligence and culture. Unlike our barbarian in chief whose vocabulary is limited to big, huge, and really big... and let's not forget, the dispensers of thrash, American media inc, that contribute to lowering every possible common intellectual or cultural denominator, while pursuing their political crusade. But the crown of ignorance still lays on the head of that bright american president who claimed that the french had no word for entrepreneur... I think the Times has better to do than write an article on the word complexifier.
Frankly, my interest is what a slave-driving multi-billionaire has to say or his choice of words is devoid of any interest to me. I’m sure his half engorged phallus held by the Enquirer is a repulsive fact.
His very face makes me nauseous. He has risen to his dizzying heights on the backs of legitimate workers whose pay scale and benefits are very low.
A titan capitalist. So what? People salivate before these modern day “gods” of money. Wishing they too could seize even a portion of his exploitative gains.
I stopped using his “Prime” and am no longer paying for him to keep workers toiling without even being allowed to converse with other workers.
Look it up. Working for Amazon is nothing but being a plantation piece of property to an indifferent ego maniac Master.
1
It sounds better than "complicater."
'I never heard of "[complexifier]," Alice ventured to say. 'What is it?'
The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. 'What! Never heard of [complexifying]!' it exclaimed. 'You know what to [simplify] is, I suppose?'
'Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: 'it means — to — make — anything — [simpler].'
'Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, 'if you don't know what to [complexify] is, you are a simpleton.'
14
Bezos is simply avoiding saying that
"My ownership of the virulently anti-Trump Washington Post complicates matters for me, since the National Enquirer is such a big Trump booster."
Nothing wrong with using the French word, with an obvious English meaning. The problem is using it to hide Bezos' part it supporting more war in places like Syria, and more belligerence directed at North Korea.
Those who need to refer to dictionaries to legitimize a word that is not much used, do not understand how languages work. Work in view of terms and grammar. All languages are living media - some say "organisms" - and so they constantly change. To use the "double genitive" today is (almost) orthodox grammar. Also: No language, such as (American) English, exists by itself in an abstract vacuum devoid of other languages. Britishisms, German, Spanish, French, Farsi, Russian, and many other originally "foreign" words become mainstreamed. That implies that often also the strengths and weaknesses of other languages are imported as well. Germans like to complexify their words, adding many different words into one single word. Especially academic Germans love to complexify their sentences, doing so especially by importing, i.e. foreign, also Latin terms. But that tendency goes both ways. "Über", i.e. "Uber" was not an American word, nor was "Mensch". You could not find them in a dictionary. But dictionaries are constantly revised for reasons explained here. I would not be surprised if Mr. Bezo's neologism "complexifier" will enter our dictionaries.
Daniel Moynihan used the word in a Time magazine op-ed in 1970.
Complexifier seemed so natural to me...
He will surely use “decomplexifier” one day! Because “simplifier” is definitely too “not long” enough.
3
In the spirit of Strunk and White, I suggest that "complexifier" is a clumsy substitute for "complicating factor".
3
The ‘complexifier’ for Jeff is whether he will use “The Post” to ‘expose’ and out this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire — which would ‘Woke’ the distracted, dis-empowered, and ‘divided & conquered’ Americans.
1
Come on let's be honest.
.
Regardless of Mr. Bezos' accomplishments with Amazon - what kind of a man sends pictures like that - even to an extra-marital lover?
2
Waiting for "complexifier" to show up in the NYTs Crossword puzzle.
3
If it wasn’t a word yesterday, it is today.
Just because you have more money than God does not mean you are well educated, or even think reasonably.
Consider the examples:
Howard Schultz
Peter Thiel
Mark Zuckerberg
The Koch Bothers
and of course, Delusional Donnie Trump
3
Bezos is using it as a noun, when clearly the French word is the infinitive (not conjugated) verb form (-er).
It’s kind of like French verb “demander” (pronounced roughly DAY-mon-DAY) which means “to ask,” if read and pronounced in English would be a person who is demanding something (noun) (pronounced dee-MAN-der). They are not totally unrelated words of course, and English comes in part from French, but they certainly are not interchangeable.
Bezos made it up; good for him. The rest of us can still refer to it as a stochastic variable in our lives or just biting off more than we can chew. You know, when we buy a newspaper.
As the simplest of simpletons as some presidents are wont to be . . . . . . would they even know what complexifiers are if they hit them between the eyes?
Rube Goldberg was a complexifier.
1
The confuddlifier to me is why people want more words. Everything about this guy is a complicationifactionicator.
1
Oddly, this whole episode makes me really like and respect Jeff Bezos. I don’t think he is trying to destroy our democracy. It’s not his fault capitalism runs amok. He is a thoughtful human being. I trust him more than our president certainly. And the evilness of attempting to exploit his personal life for political gain is just awful and dirty.
3
I have nothing against coinages, but this one just does work that is already being done by "complicator."
1
If JK Rowling can add nonsence words like 'muggle' to the Oxford dictionary, then I'm more than happy for complexifier to enter the vernacular as well.
1
There’s nothing complexified about Amazon’s business strategy. Sell items at below cost while convincing brain-dead investors to buy your wildly inflated shares to fund your follies, then raise prices when all competitors are out of business. Who knew delivering paper towels to homes could create a trillion-dollar business. Go figure!
3
Google Books shows "complexifier" used in about 30,000 books, e.g., "The first example of complexifier coherent states for the gauge group ..."
I like it. I'll use it.
I see naked pictures on t shirts of Bezos in Long Island City selling out. Is this who they are giving 3 billion in subsidies for? Cuomo family or his friends must own real estate in Long Island City orvthevreal estate industry that will benefit gave money to Cuomo. Investigation needed. Who in their right mind would give him 3 billion if he is worth 140 billion , just announced his divorce while having three children to a woman who was married. We do not need Amazon in Long Island City with subsidies . Let the free market work. Google does not need subsidies but if you give them to Amazon they will make their request. It is as if Cuomo works for Kathyrn Wylde who worked for David Rockefeller through the old New York Psrtnership. Cuomo seems lost on this issue. Give $3 billion to get revenue in the future. Is that why so much money was wasted on the second avenue subway and now he Iis so desperate for money to finance the MTA. Well he was in power and now the system needs even more charges to fix it. Deny Amazon any subsidy.
2
Wait, what about the French resistance to adding English words to their lexicon. Should we fight back?
"Complexifier" is a French verb. Not a noun. So it's still wrong.
Perhaps "complicates things for me" or "is a complicating factor" would be too low-rent for Bezos.
2
According to the internet, the noun "simplifier" is recognized as an English word in both Webster's dictionary and the American Heritage dictionary.
So by definition, its antonym "complexifier" should also be an English word.
Problem solved. Carry on, Mr. Bezos.
I'm surprised nobody consulted their Oxford English Dictionary. The OED lists the verb "complexify" first cited in 1830. Of course you can add the suffix to make complexifier. Mr. Bezos does own the largest bookstore, I can only assume he is somewhat of a reader.
comˈplexify, v.
[f. L. complex-us + -fy.]
A. transitive. To make complex or complicated. rare.
1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 140 There is an underplot‥which complexifies the incidents.
B. intransitive. To become (more) complex or complicated. rare.
1914 Geddes & Thomson Sex iv. 94 The tendency in matter to complexify.
Hence comˌplexifiˈcation, comˈplexifying, the action of becoming (more) complex or complicated; comˈplexified ppl. a.
And the historical references go up to 1962!
2
English is difficult enough; it really didn't need more complexification.
1
"Complexifier" n. The third ingredient in Stove Top Stuffing, between agar agar and corn starch.
Holy Pthalimide!
Forgive me for getting on my high horse, but I was hoping this article might be a little more compl... I mean, substantive. Three tweets and a link to a French dictionary? Is that it? If anything the comments were more interesting. I’m not sure it added much and it feels a bit clickbaity.
Because 'complicates matters for me' is just so pedestrian.
3
It's always nice to have more words. That's how language evolves. I like this one. It's exotic, but it's meaning is preety clear from context. And it's fun to say. Thanks JB.
7
As a neologism, that's very good: a "complexfier" is something or someone who makes things more complex than necessary for the purpose of impeding or obfuscating matters. Like the poison amendment to a bill or the long list of exclusions that corporations add to avoid responsibility.
3
The fact that the same spelling exists in French is to some extent a coincidence: the -er suffix that turns a verb into its agent in English happens to be used for an infinitive in French. The equivalent verb in English would of course as noted be 'complexify', and 'complexifier' (which my spellcheck indeed just tried to change to a French verb form!) is only a short step from there. And if it's a standard word in French, it's really only a matter of time before it migrates into English - we've been stealing their verbs for 1000 years already.
12
Mr Bezos private life should’ve just that- private. However, if he had not been unfaithful to his wife before getting separated from her, his life would have been much less complicated, regardless of his ownership of the post.
4
So, in a way, the extortion was divine retribution for his infidelity? Is that what you're suggesting?
As the comments are showing, this is a non-issue. I'm a high school English teacher with many grammar-related accolades (booooring...) Language is living and fluid. Moreover, I'm impressed with the context in which it was used-- it seems like it should have been a word if it wasn't before. Bob Marley and the other Rastafarians made up many new words, because the existing ones were inadequate to express their complexified feelings. Isn't that the purpose of language: to express concepts, which often are ineffable? Well done Jeff. I won't say that often.
23
The semantic force of the word complexifier is already available in English with the perfectly good word, complication. I’m sticking with IT.
5
Which is also a French word...
Many people have tried new word creation. Some stick, some don't. This is how a language evolves over time.
11
Like Axe in place of ask. It never stuck with me and I do not consider it the evolution of language.
1
@Rene Pedraza Del Prado
As I’m sure you already know, that is a matter of pronunciation, not of new word creation.
Off-topic snark does not elevate this conversation.
Thomas Jefferson helped invent the American language, and he liked new, useful words. "Normalcy" was one of his.
But he used them in clear, often stately prose. They work better when a good writer uses them.
7
Were so few taught about roots, suffixes and prefixes and how words can be easily created from them? And why are so many so often up in arms when somebody "creates" a word or "borrows" one from another language that makes perfect sense on its own or in another?
Language is fluid. Stop being sticks in the drying mud, and welcome the stream of creation as it carves new banks. Language evolves, evolve with it.
17
I absolutely agree. 'Complexify' is a legitimately English verb according to Webster's dictionary. If we say qualifier, quantifier, emulsifier, etc., what's wrong—or un-English—with complexifier?
4
"Complexifier" is a common-sense utility word that anyone could make up whether it previously existed or not. The ability to flex one's usage is one of the strengths of English that keeps it growing and relevant.
12
I always hate when I look up a word even though I think I know what it means but in the context that it was used in the sentence it did not just seem to fit in my mind and then they use a word in the definition that I also have to look up becasue again it did not make sense in that context so I assume that that word was a complixifier.
6
On the other hand, someone once told Trump he was grating, which he took as a compliment, thinking the word meant "making something great"; he's been grating ever since.
55
@Georges Kaufman
Or maybe he thought somebody was saying he was a cheese aficionado: Make America Grate Again.
1
@Georges Kaufman
His grateness is unsurpassable.
@Georges Kaufman: so he should apply himself to a chunk of cheese.
1
If the "-ifer" suffix is added to carry the meaning "one who or that which makes more" then I think it is exactly the right word to use. Certainly being the sole owner of a "fake news MSM" leading publication exposes Mr. Bezos as a target for those whose political ambitions and agendas do not include expanding the truthfulness of America's political discourse. And because owning a publication that promotes itself as a beacon for democracy when the leader of the party currently in power seems intent on dismantling that democracy, institution by institution, norm by norm is a sure way to become a target of derogatory tweets and comments, it is nice that Bezos has both the courage to fight back, and the deep (oh so deep) pockets to carry the fight forward against "fake billionaires" should the need arise. Thanks for taking up this battle, Mr. Bezos, and my best wishes on your complete vindication and victory.
14
'Complexify' and 'complexification' are everyday words in mathematics, though we don't usually refer to a mathematician who performs the operation as a 'complexifier'.
Indeed, a mathematician often complexifies an algebra problem in order to drastically *simplify* it by taking advantage of the fact that the so-called 'complex numbers' (i.e. numbers of the form a + bi, where i is the square root of -1) are algebraically closed.
The ubiquity of this operation once led the (recently) late and lamented mathematician extraordinare Sir Michael Atiyah to proclaim that the introduction of the complex number system was the greatest advance in mathematics in the last 1000 years.
13
Further, we mathematicians also go in for complexification.
6
No wonder Math never held any appeal for me and I majored in Theatre.
@BarbaraAnn Except for those who oppose it: the anticomplexificationists.
I use complexifier as well to refer to people who unnecessarily complicate things. Never knew it could become a tinge!
9
I think I bought a wireless complexifier at Best Buy last weekend. Really hard to set up.
18
“Complexifier” may have been just a French verb yesterday, but it’s an English noun today. It’s worth noting, I think, that the word “verb,” while it has its origin in Latin, came to English from French in the 14th century (Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology).
18
Like so many words used in English
1
One of the key reasons why English became the lingua franca of the world is that it readily assimilated words that just worked so much better than the existing ones, or for which no English term existed. For example, later this evening, I will go to sleep in my pajamas, even if that isn't en vogue. Complexify and complexifier are two such words that might now be added to our dictionaries. They make sense.
15
A portmanteau of complex and amplifier = complexifier. In the context of blog post, make total sense to me.
11
I really love the fact that 100+ readers are interested enough in language to comment on the use of this word. And I like the word "complexifier", too. I can't imagine myself using it, but its meaning was immediately clear, and I'm guessing that owning the Washington Post HAS made his life interesting (and complexified).
38
Bezos may be credited for bringing the substantive "complexifier" to English -- but it comes from the verb "complexify," which, though rare, has occurred in English as early as 1830, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
23
Simplifier is a word in dictionaries, so complexifier was lacking till now.
I must get one from amazon.
40
" Complexifier " as used by Bezos, i.e. as a noun, is not quite the same as the French verb.
17
Sounds like one of those words you hear at the Broadway musical "Wicked", like...
Scandalacious
Disgusticified
Encouragerized
Disrespectation
Clandestinedly
Thrillifying
And here's my own contribution - "Fantabulous".
8
@Polyglot8
“Fantabulous” is not new. See the lyrics to Van Morrison’s “Moondance”:
“A fantabulous night to make romance; ‘Neath the cover of October skies.”
"Complexifier" is interesting, apprehensible and apropos.
A perfectly cromulent word.
20
Paging Will Shortz...
15
I think the AMI lawyers can figure out what Bezos was saying. Likewise nearly all NYT readers, although not all who rely on Twitter. The Readers Digest years ago had a regular feature called "Toward a more picturesque speech" and "complexifier" could have been noted there, and maybe it was. It is a little late in the day for get too bent out of shape about proper American English. It is a very fluid standard in practice.
12
I like it. It's way better than covfefe.
66
'Complexify' is a word in English, therefore so is 'complexifier' - the -er is simply an agentive suffix.
18
Can the world richest man use “sophisticated” or just “rarely used” words to express himself ? I dare him to do any less while being the owner of the WaPo.
His letter is well-written. Who would expect anything less ?
10
And let us not forget that other French based word "
Dotard."
20
@Angela Flear
Dotard's heritage is Middle English, not French.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dotard#Etymology
Unfortunately, I can't figure out from this if it's from the French dialect the Normans brought with them or from Old English.
An offered definition of complexifier:
What Trump is to the attorney unfortunate enough to represent him.
viz. Giuliani
cf. Mueller (i.e. anti-complexifier)
6
I want to see out president using this word. It will come out something like “complifier” or “complicifier” which eventually will turn into complicity.
13
LOL
1
And soon we'll have colludifier!
Ineradicable inarticulations, once fanned into flame on twitter, become irredactable apothegms wafting amidst the gasps.
8
At least we know Mr. Bezos completed all the assignments in his Vocab Workbook. I don't think we can say the same of POTUS.
15
I'm not a linguist, but an engineer, and neither French nor English are my first language, so the following might not be correct. To my knowledge, "complexifier" in French is a verb, and is equivalent to "complexify" which is an English verb. Thus Mr. Bezos is using a noun that he derived from an English verb. The fact that it is spelled like the French verb is incidental.
28
I'm French/English bilingual. You are correct.
18
Adding complexifier to our complexicon might be more complexicated than it first appears...
It might have been simplifier for all concerned, if Jeff had taken an Uber rather than a helicoptifier...
12
We've got covfefe, dotard and now complexifier
7
I will tell my tax attorney he's a complexifier. That's ok is it not?
9
Bezos uses it as a noun. In French, it's a verb.
Just sayin'.
Dan Kravitz
8
Thank you for disambiguating this!
4
He just forgot to italicize it...
3
Why such snarky, catty coverage of this story? Feeling competitive with the Washington Post by any chance?
3
Andrew,
We all just needed a laugh. We get the seriousness of the issue. And then we have a president who’s predicting a bigger better nuclear arms race; we have children separated from their parents at the border.
Some of us just had to cut loose with a little gallows humor to break the tension. We’ll get back to outrage and disgust tomorrow.
I mean you’re right. But it’s just one day. And with a character named David Pecker in the mix, it was just too tempting.
I think it's Ms. Sanchez that's the real complexifier.
7
Should be "2,100-word blog post," not "2,100 word-blog" post.
18
@LD Yes, LOL, oh, that hyphenation. Be careful what you join with what. What would a word-blog be, anyway? Sort of a Haiku, but only one really long word. Time to dust off my German dictionary; that's one of the languages where it might be possible to write a word-blog.
1
I'd rather us single out the use of "manhood" to describe a penis. Surely "manhood", assumably a state of being, is so much more than an attached copulation and urination device?
13
This is a word that already exists in French, the core meaning of which is intuitively obvious to many well-educated speakers of English, so I view it as a great addition to the English language, where we already use many thousands of words that were incorporated into English from French.
Sometimes a prominent individual serves as the catalyst to show how useful a new word can be. Henry Kissinger did this for the useful word "interlocutor" when he published the first volume of his memoires "White House Years" in 1979.
This noteworthy volume reintroduced the word "interlocutor" into standard and nearly universal usage among English-speaking foreign policy and national security professionals. Prior to Kissinger's usage, the word interlocutor was used primarily among European diplomats, since the word exists in several European languages.
So Jeff Bezos has done a great favor by launching the word complexifier into modern English.
3
Perhaps I am a complexifier, but don't really know it? Certainly, I myself feel complexified much of the time, but then I work to self-simplify as a corrective. Ultimately, I face a new challenge to complexify, and the whole cycle starts again.
4
The true complexifier is this: a multi-billionaire, who has made his incredible fortune because of permissive and protectionist corporate and regulatory rules, on the backs of working people who do not enjoy any such protections, is now a moral "leader" for ethics in politics. And suddenly, just like that, Bezos is the hero of the day.
Forgive me if my enthusiasm is a bit muted when the (one) person who finally brings down Trump, despite the efforts of millions of people and hundreds of years of precedent, is also an extremely privileged white, male, billionaire. Too bad our systems couldn't do it, as they were intended and fought for.
I guess Bezos is our white stallion, then???
If I was a gambling person, I could never have imagined this a week ago.
12
If Bezos does turn out to be the “white stallion” who ultimately frees us from the lunacy of that man’s presidency, perhaps the phrase “don’t look a gift stallion in the mouth” should apply ... to
I hope the public starts using "complexifier" and the people who run the Oxford Dictionary of English have to grant it legal status. It would be worth it just to see their description of its origins.
6
Well, complexifier rises above "kerfuffle" by a certain time by thumb - typed in the middle of the night - that's for sure.
No wonder, English and more the American English continues to dominate and conquer the world.
It adopts from other languages and broadcasts it as it was it's own word.
3
Complexifier! Of course.
There are several things in my life which I couldn’t quite figure out what they were, a wife, two kids, beach house, things I love but they sure are a lot of work, complexefiriers. Got it.
14
I'm perfectly OK with 'complexifier,' and since (46-1) hates France, bonus points for that.
But let's have a discussion about "incentivize." Wasn't "incent" good enough?
15
Reading his Medium blog post has enriched my vocabulary.
Well done, Mr. Bezos!
5
The word complexifier has been aptly used by Mr. Bezos on his personal letter. It makes perfect sense because owning a Newspaper will indeed bring those kinds of situations. This word also allows us to see his uniqueness, individuality, and real persona.
As someone whose first language isn’t English, it’s refreshing to read a “new word” (I know it isn’t) and learn about its existence.
9
Bezos said, "My ownership of the Washington Post is a complexifier for me."
The purpose of language is to communicate. Consider could you say that thought better?
One option might be: "My ownership of the Washington Post complicates things for me."
The contextual understanding in his blog post is modified by his saying: "It’s unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy."
I don't see a meaningful difference. I won't be using that word(?)
4
@neomaxagreed
Welp, the Larousse is not the only dictionary in town. Check the Oxford English Dictionary... Collins, too. The word is not new and has been used before.
20
By the way, the Oxford English Dictionary is possibly the only dictionary created with the intent of covering all English words and their use from 1150AD on... there is a fascinating book by Simon Winchester, "The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary."
5
@patricia, the OED has no listing for "complexifier" -- but it does, as I commented elsewhere in this thread, list its verb form "complexify."
3
"Complexifier" was used in this book in 2007:
Modern Canonical Quantum General Relativity
By Thomas Thiemann in reference to some mathematical notation. Not that that makes Bezos any less intelligent by not being the first....
14
@Renee HoewingDid you read that book for your profession or just for pleasure? I'm joking of course.
2
I thought it referred to some living in a large apartment complex.
16
This is a totally transparent word. The root and suffixes common and productive in English. Not every derivation of a word is ever entered into a dictionary.
This is a uninformed essay. Dictionaries do not legislate.
What is the big deal? complexity? Complexification? Any English speaker can join in.
It has all the elements of an a totally 100% English word
Of course it's a "word" ...
63
@Moses Khaet
Yes, dictionaries are lagging indicators of what is a word.
2
What's the big deal: Mr. Bezos may have inadvertently acted as a complexifier of the English language....
15
By his action, I'd bet that Mr. Bezos has triggered the series of events that will add the word to the English language. If he brings down the National Enquirer, I'd expect that it will become the 'word of the year'.
37
If every "foreign" word was to be removed from the "English" language how much would be left?
14
@Bodger
Paul Kingsnorth wrote a novel, "The Wake", to show that.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/02/the-wake-paul-kingsnorth-review-literary-triumph
In French, complexifier is a verb, as was actually described in the article. But Bezos has used it as a noun.
18
thanks, don't know how the writer missed that
1
or better why he chose to ignore it evrn though he realized it ... guess it just didn't fit into the story in his head :-)
2
As far as I can count, four obscenities.
1
If it's constructed w/in the logic of the language, and can be understood in context, then it's a word. A new one, perhaps, but still a word. If it gets used by others, then it becomes officially a word.
In many other languages, creating a neologism is considered a sign of sophistication and precision.
9
If the late Katherine Graham ever thought owning the Post was a complexifier, especially during the Watergate years, she never let on.
I'm picturing Lou Grant telling a copy editor, "of course it's a word...I'm the managing editor."
25
I've seen this word used several times in the past by speakers of English. I am in science, so probably in a scientific context. Many nouns can have "-ifier" added to the end and be perfectly acceptable English even if they happen not to have been used before. Bully for creativity!
8
Thanks, Mr. Granville, for this article. For me, it importantized something I might have otherwise not thought about!
41
When Mr. Bezos writes complexifier,
English purists roar and aim and fire.
But if a static language is their desire,
it may be time for them to retire.
104
I really can't get my arms around a word until I use it in a sentence. How about, "Stormy Daniels was a complexifier for Donald Trump." Now I've got it.
43
What is not "complex"—and needs no intensifier—is the sleaze of the tabloid industry.
And in this case there is a direct conduit (sewerifier) to a certain reality-TV hack currently posing as president.
4
What you're describing as French is a verb, whereas the use you're commenting on is clearly substantive.
Also, your lexical ontology needs to accept the possible or probable as well as the actual. The answer to the question "Does this word exist?" should not be limited to a historical survey of the English language (i.e. words that *have been* used). A look at affixes and their regular uses (i.e. words that *could be* used) is also in order.
If "complexify" already exists, and it does, then so does the -ier variant. Otherwise, we'd be "creating" new words every time we added a plural -s or a preterite -ed to an unfamiliar word.
20
I don’t care what you say: I plan on using some version of the word “complexifier” as often as possible. For starters, I plan on using it with my husband when he asks me to do something I don’t want to do.
20
Love this word. It proves two things.
First, he wrote he wrote his letter himself. Who else could get it past the copy editor?
Second, that he actually did grow up in New Mexico and its colony to the east, Texas.
9
So Bezos is a complexifier. And all this time I thought he was trying to make life simpler for all the rest of us...
5
Somehow Mr. Bezos' exhibitionistic "complexifier" monologue reminded me of another technology entrepreneur and investor, Elon Musk.
6
The "ifier" suffix is a versatile verbifier for most nouns and adjectives.
17
The word "complexifier" has often been used in marriage counseling. It is convenient, because it addresses many aspects of married life. Some counselers have used a simple scoring system to give a quick assessment of the impacts of many complexifiers at once.
7
"Complexifier" might just be computer scientist speak. In the software world, there's a lot of terms that one influencial person uses and then a bunch of other people copy. Most of them are just new uses of real words but some are indeed made up. Sometimes it is due to all of the non-native speakers in the field - for example "prepone" is used quite often as the opposite of "postpone".
3
@C It's not "computer scientist speak".
Complexifier is much more intelligent than covfeve, wouldn't you agree?
89
This is one of those words that stands out not just because it's odd, but because it sounds very much like pointless, self-important corporate jargon. I remember when we used to hire people. Now we "onboard" them. Sheesh!
8
"Onboard" is HR jargon, yes -- but it is not at all a synonym for "hire." "To hire" means to offer a job to an applicant who accepts and agrees to work for the employer. "To onboard" means to complete the paperwork, payroll forms, computer training, enrollments, etc., necessary before a new-hire can actually start working. Sheesh!
13
All words are inventions.
26
@Len Arends
Brilliant!
"In the end, the multibillionaire may have added complexifier to English usage. After all, language thrives when it becomes more complex."
And words get incorporated into English simply for being used. This one has been, and been noticed, quoted and reused in the course of just a couple of days. And this article will go into the lexicographers' files, as it's complete with definition, example of usage, and citation information.
12
the english/american language is far too grammatically supple, idiomatically fecund, prefixedly and postfixedly promiscuous, and confidently open to all immigrant coinages (whether patrician or patois) to even acknowledge these petty criticisms.
"complexifier" is a verb in french, used as an adjective in english. for real fun, examine every word in english that ends in "ment".
they're nearly all the same word, with the same meaning, in french.
33
@drollere I think Bezos used it as a noun -- "a complexifier." And I don't think he got it from French. The "er" is a verb ending in French, but in English, it is looks more like an ending used to create a noun meaning "one who does something."
Remember "I am the decider"?
13
@drollere
Your first sentence is delicious!
11
@drollere
My French teacher joked that he once went to a laundry in Paris and asked them to "reimpermeablisier" his raincoat. The laundry owner cracked up at the invented word, but could tell what it meant - "make it waterproof again".
6
The English language is constantly complexifying (that IS a word in English, btw).
10
Bezos owns the Post.
The Post is taking constant shots at Trump.
Trump has tweeted about Bezos.
Gee, I wonder who is behind this whole thing?.....
2
@Joe If by "taking shots" you mean reporting on his outlandish, ridiculous and completely corrupt and chaotic stewardship of the nation, then yea, I guess they have been!
42
Bezos v Trump and Pecker. A more suitable personification of the differences between the old guard and the new. Turn over that log, Jeff, let’s see what crawls and then smoosh them.
11
Ah the language police: Those that use words to add complexity, you know complexifiers. I see why the language police are so offended.
4
I'm surprised that no one has commented on the fact that AIM's Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard wrote "expediating," which is also not an English word, and likely a bolloxing up of the word "expediting."
8
"complexifier" seems to be a verb in French, and Mr. Bezos is using it as a noun.
1
I hate unnecessary wordification.
19
'Complexifier' in French is a verb. 'Complexifier' in English is evidently a noun. It's not any more French in this usage than is the word 'bras,' referring to intimate ladywear, even though one can find the same arrangement of letters (meaning 'arm') in a French dictionary. What 'complexifier' certainly is, however, is a perfectly comprehensible single word that expresses an idea clearly and well.
53
I suspect under whatever rules exist the addition of "ier" to particular nouns makes it another word i.e. word-ier or steel-ier or sleep-ier --- Hmmmm-ier
3
@Richard Frauenglass
The ending is "-fier", not "-ier". Related to the French "faire", to make.
3
Mr. Granville errored... language thrives as it becomes more complexifed...
Not to be confused with countrified.... or even country fried ( as in chicken)
8
The French make everything more complex than need be. They are not alone. I don't know why the Germans bothered to invade France in WW2 when they just should have phoned?
3
I am always amazed at the the fabrications that make their way into language, and even make their way into "mainstream" dictionaries.
For example, I never got over people using "gift" as a verb.
14
@Chris
Irregardless . . .
11
@Chris “Gifting” must stand, as it is the foundation upon which the magnificent and hilarious “regifting” is built.
30
@Chris but we have the adjectival form gifted.
4
Word nerd extraordinaire Benjamin Dreyer's reaction to "complexifier"? He leaves it to Joan Crawford:
https://twitter.com/BCDreyer/status/1093691186253049862
5
So Jeff Bezos has successfully complexified... English?
3
Next time I'm gonna need a cup of coffee before I get complexified.
4
Not a bad addition to the language.
beats "cofeve"!
169
@Jack
You mean 'CoVfefe'.
Covfefe!!
7
Though I knew what it meant, it probably is not a good English even if it were a English word. William Zinsser might have rewritten it simply as "..it complicates my life..". That's a simplificater for you, Mr. Bezos.
8
@TK Sung
Ah, no, "complexifier" has an importantly different nuance: a complexifier increases the complexity all around, versus one thing adding complexity to another. So Bezos is using the word in a delightfully accurate and appropriate way, as his position with regards to owning The Washing Post adds complexity to his personal life (clearly), AND his personal life was adding complexity to his ownership of a major newspaper. I love it!
5
Using a neologism always complexifies our language.
12
Call me naive, but who the heck would pay to see Bezos butt naked, let alone in his skivvies, semi-erect, flaccid, or otherwise?
Call me twice as naive, but what the bloody hell is this bizarre fetish of sending nude or erotic snaps by cell phone. Not a prude, rather it just seems dumb, vulgur, far from authenticaly erotic, sensual, or even sexual. Call me naive.
53
@eyton shalom
I agree with you, completely! However I am afraid that as with any tool, once humans become accustomed to the technology their brain adapts and it becomes a bodily extension. So, humans who have integrated a cell phone's functionality into all hours of their day, are not inhibited from communicating sexual messaging as well.
- eh... humans! What I find refreshing is Bezos walks the talk, so - he has had some tiny vestige of privacy hijacked, he doesn't really seem to care- he is living example of someone who embraces our privacy depleted brave new world! Unlike some other tech kazillionaires who take less kindly to personal privacy breaches.
6
@eyton shalom
We’re not naive. Just old.
9
@eyton shalom No, you’re not naive. People who do what Bezos did are immature narcissists/exhibitionists. Perhaps they think that they invented genitalia, and are therefore wonderful, and should be applauded.
5
Oligarchy is suicide.
1
No one, not even Mr Trump, has been or ever will be able to build a wall that will keep out neologisms. Hallelujah!
That said, Mr. Bezos's noun cannot be said to exist as a French word simply because the morpheme (really the grapheme—the words are not pronounced identically) that makes it a noun in English also functions in French, but to a completely different grammatical end.
13
Finally a billionaire I can get behind.
6
Here's hoping that NYT, with everyday stories, puts as many resources into determining proper language/grammar as it does when a billionaire does the writing--better copy editing is sorely needed. And please revise the regular column on punctuation, grammar and proper writing style. It's needed.
40
@August West I think you mean "revive" not "revise".
16
@Dan Styer - No, I think August meant "revise," which is also the case.
@August West
Exactly! An important newspaper such as the NYT should use correct English grammar and punctuation and tolerate or even promote neologisms that constantly crop up anyway in living languages, not only in academic language. August West means "revise", not "revive". Editors exist to catch grammatical errors such as not knowing when to say "who" or "whom", "me" or "I", etc. etc. nor the reasons for those grammatical "complexities".
1
Good word, but how about Dylan Howard's use of "expediating"? Who here prefers expediting?
21
Works for me. The Post is a complexifier for Bezos. Mendacity, graft, venality, nepotism, corruption and extreme narcissism are complexifiers for Trump and his Pecker.
182
It’s a great word. More elegant than ”complication”.
14
I think complexifier is a great term... like social media is a complexifier to human interaction... or Trump is a complexifier to common sense legislation... or Muller is a complexifier for the Trump presidency... Love it!
44
@Brian Will
I would say that Trump is a negatifier to common sense.
2
I’ve noticed that a lot of successful businessmen can barely speak English. Mostly, business language reads like bad translations from Japanese.
14
@Doug K - Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto
I find it astonishing that i have to correct the author:
"language thrives when it becomes more understandable to all."
Insecure, incompetent people use overly complex language to try and fool others. Get it straight, man!
8
If you are influential enough, you can create new words. They have to come from somewhere, you know. Stop quibbling, people.
10
It's a verb in French, not a noun as used here.
70
@Vincent - Precisement.
8
@Vincent I was waiting for someone to say this. Bravo!
3
@Vincent Good for you, Vincent. Even my rudimentary knowledge of how French is constructed told me that. Shows you that money may talk, but it doesn't speak.
6
“Complexifies” is a made-up word (or, more fancily, a neologism) which is meant to sound profound in all its polysyllabic pretentiousness. I wish Bezos had used plain English and said that ownership of the Post makes his life more complicated.
5
@Mark Siegel
All words are made up.
22
@Mark Shyres Ah ha! You got us there!
1
But, then, what would we have to write about ?
1
Sometimes a word comes along that isn't a word, but should be. This is one of those times.
Welcome to the English language, complexifier!
166
These are called “sniglets”. A comedy show in the ‘70s featured a number of them.
3
@Kathy
I'd say it's on probation until it gets into a NYT crossword.
28
@Kathy
Because language is an ever-changing trans-subjective social system, those who speak it decide what words are "in" it. The "quotes" signify that no language is a thing, with an inside and an outside--instead language is a social process, stable enough to function but always being modified in matters large and small by its speakers.
3
It's meaning is crystal clear! It's a keeper.
32
@Joann
"It's meaning is crystal clear!"
That's "its" not "it's". Don't complexify English spelling, which has enough problems as it is.
11
A point missed is that he used the word properly. Unlike words used (including those made up) by another billionaire we all know.
9
@DLA
Thank you for my winning $100 on a bet that some commentator would bring up Trump (in your case, indirectly). It's like a mouse that knows the peanut butter in front of him is in a mouse trap, but just can't resist.
2
I, personally, just added complexifier to my spellcheck dictionary - I love great words!
But I have to say that the roots of this whole case are not complex at all. Politicians using propaganda and extortion to get what they want is one of the virulent stains on global history. Bravo to Mr Bezos for adding both a dynamite new word and an explosive way to respond to these age-old criminals to our lexicon!
31
@common sense advocate
Eh, "Publish and be damned" is not exactly a new response. I do like the new word though!
What's interesting is that the author does not propose, in Fowler's style, an appropriate Anglo-Saxon derived word for the for the idea being expressed by the neologism.
1
It's a portmanteau of complex and qualifier>>complexifier
10
"Complexifier" was universally understood as he intended it to be, therefore it's a perfectly cromulent neologism. Navel gazing about word usage distracts from the extremely serious allegations Bezos makes in his letter.
25
@Mike
Agreed, arguing this issue definitely does not embiggen the debate.
10
@Mike
True, but I am loving the comments section -- fun to read the impassioned prose from word nerds!
5
"Complexifier" (as in: make things more complex) may be in the French dictionary (as a verb, not a noun), but as a French speaker I can assure you it's not in common use in French either! "Compliquer les choses" or "rendre plus complexe" would be far more common. I suggest we retire the word in both languages as needlessly... complicated.
55
And yet I immediately understood its meaning. Why use three words when you only need to use one?
35
Complexifier also would end with a sound like fee-aye. Not like fire in English.
6
@Jim Casey and that is precisely why it's easier for non-native speakers to read French than to speak it or understand it audibly.
6
Back in May 2018, Julia Glum at Money Magazine calculated that Bezos was making $3,182 per second, and it must be considerably more now.
If squeezing the idea into "complexifier" saved me a few thousand dollars' worth of my time, I'd do it, too.
21
Hopefully the Complexifier-in-Chief notices the irony of his exposer's name, Mr. Pecker.
37
Good One
Sometimes life provides the BEST
Hahahahaha
7
I noticed the use of complexifier (auto correct did not catch that btw) in Mr. Bezos’s blog post but had no idea it’s not an English word. It seemed to fit perfectly with what he trying to communicate. I welcome this new word!
119
I agree that if it wasn’t a word before, it should be. Instantly understandable, which is a hallmark of good construction. I will still use “complicated” and not “complexified,” though.
10
@Chris Gulhaugen
Remember, in ALICE IN WONDERLAND Lewis Carroll invented the term "uglification". He said it was one of four operations: ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.
@Chris Gulhaugen
I think complicated and complexified would have different uses. Complicated means something has a lot of steps or moving parts that need to be in order. Complexified means that you take something that is at a certain level of complication and increase that to a greater level of complication.
At least that's how I see it without doing the slightest bit of research.
1