Thank you Will, Bob, Dominic, and Don.
Will: Thank you for hearing my pain! When I speak of my discomfort to
people in these groups, all I get is a blank stare. Your post got my
day started with a good belly laugh <s>. And yes, 'responsiveness'
makes more sense.
Bob:
"True, but you can't stop in-groups from developing their own jargon,
and sometimes the jargon leaks into general usage."
I agree. However, my problem was that I doubted the claim that
'responsibility' meant 'ability to respond', that is, that the
definition and etymology linked the two.
My teeth grind when I hear "impacted" used as a verb.
Dominic: Thank you so much for your history of the word
'responsible'. I was fascinated to learn about the ties between
respond and sponsor and spouse. I think "answerable" is the sense of
"responsible" I was looking for.
Don:
"1. You seem to be seeking some higher authority that sets the
standards for "validity."
Not exactly. I'm well aware that English has evolved by whim and
chance. However, the history of many words is somewhat clear (see
Dominic's post). So it is misleading, or at least sloppy, to say that
responsibility "means" 'the ability to respond' when it means, in
effect, 'I am the one who has sworn an oath to see that this thing is
done'. Responsive is closer to 'the ability to respond'.
If the group wants to say "We are going to define 'responsibility'
as .....", then they're being honest. Of course, the definitions of
words will change as they change (as will spelling); we have no
control over that, but right now, this respond thing is still, in my
opinion, a linguistic trick used in a particular sub-culture.
"2. The folk etymology you describe in this case has been fashionable
in New Age groups for 30+ years. A similar instance is History = His
Story viz. a narrative intended to discriminate against all the women
of the past. This "meaning" is obviously a bit silly -- but you will
still find some people employ it."
Exactly. It's 'folk etymology' and it's used to makes a point. But
when it's portrayed as real etymology it's misleading.
"3. Your particular case can be approached from another direction.
We know plenty of scientists work daily with the concept "ability to
respond" (cf. nerve physiology, signal feedback etc.) We can survey
these consistent users and see what word they use for this purpose."
That's an interesting idea. I could write to one of the groups here in
google. I'll do that - I hope you don't mind my using your #3 as part
of my question.
Dori