Robert Lee Hotz, “Here’s an Omical Tale: Scientists Discover Spreading Suffix” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 14, 2012)
“I am fascinated by how an ending like that—omics—can take off,” said lexicographer Ben Zimmer, chairman of the American Dialect Society’s new word committee, which gave the term culturomics its 2010 prize as the word least likely to succeed. “There are so many omics that you can now talk about ome-omics.” …
While some of these new terms may be useful, Mr. Zimmer worries the quirky constructions only promote confusion. “They are opaque,” he said. “There are a lot of possibilities for misunderstanding.”
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