PHOTOSHOP

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

PHOTOSHOP

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:59 pm

• photoshop •

Pronunciation: fo-do-shahp • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: To change an electronic photograph or graphic using commercial photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop®.

Notes: When Google became a common verb, as to google someone on the Internet, Merrian-Webster launched a media campaign bringing the shift to everyone's attention. I have read and heard the new verb photoshop enough now to conclude that we should herald its addition to the English vocabulary. The process of changing a proper noun to a common one like this is known as "commonization". It is a common enough way of expanding our vocabulary.

In Play: Altering photos in the past century was a difficult and tedious process that produced easily detectable results. The electronic age has changed all that: "It's a lovely shot of me, Graeme, but could you photoshop twenty pounds off me before I print it?" A process that once had to be left to professionals can now be done by anyone with a photo editor on their computer: "I love this picture of me with June McBride, but I wish I knew someone who could photoshop June out and put a shot of Natalie Cladd in her place."

Word History: In 1987 a graduate student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Thomas Kroll, began writing a graphics editing program, which he called "Display", for his Macintosh Plus. The next year he collaborated with his brother to expand the program and changed its name to ImagePro. The year after that, 1989, Thomas renamed his program Photoshop® and sold 200 copies bundled with a now defunct scanner. In the meantime Thomas licensed his product to Adobe and in 1990 Photoshop® 1.0 was released for the Mac only. Kroll built the name of his product by shortening photography to photo and adding it to shop. Photography is composed of Greek photos "light" and graphein "to draw, write" plus the English noun suffix -y. Now his creation is a common verb in English.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

dougsmit
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:34 am

'not a verb'

Postby dougsmit » Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:03 am

Adobe is fighting this adoption of their trademark into the vulgar language:
http://www.adobe.com/misc/trade.html
Adobe has a better grasp on the concepts of photo editing than on those of language development.

Note the section over halfway down the page:
"Proper use of the Photoshop trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and the Photoshop trademark is one of Adobe's most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product and should never be used in abbreviated form. The following examples illustrate these rules:

Trademarks are not verbs.

Correct: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
Incorrect: The image was photoshopped.

Trademarks are not nouns.

Correct: The image pokes fun at the Senator.
Incorrect: The photoshop pokes fun at the Senator.

Always capitalize and use trademarks in their correct form.

Correct: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.
Incorrect: The image was photoshopped.
Incorrect: The image was Photoshopped.
Incorrect: The image was Adobe® Photoshopped.

Trademarks must never be used as slang terms.

Correct: Those who use Adobe® Photoshop® software to manipulate images as a hobby see their work as an art form.
Incorrect: A photoshopper sees his hobby as an art form.
Incorrect: My hobby is photoshopping.

Trademarks must never be used in possessive form.

Correct: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.
Incorrect: Photoshop's new features are impressive.

Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be followed by the generic terms they describe.

Correct: The image was manipulated using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
Incorrect: The image was manipulated using Photoshop.

Trademarks must never be abbreviated.

Correct: Take a look at the new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software.
Incorrect: Take a look at the new features in PS."
Doug Smith

Stargzer
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2578
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
Location: Crownsville, MD

Postby Stargzer » Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:29 am

That's why I love English: you can verb a noun anytime you want.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Postby Slava » Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:59 pm

Adobe has taken up a rather quixotic battle here. Just as kleenex, q-tip, xerox, velcro, and many others have done, photoshop is in the vernacular. None of these may be used in official documents, but that's how they are used by the hoi polloi.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Tue Jul 20, 2010 2:26 pm

Quite right.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], Slava and 61 guests