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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Automatic- stretched (or shrinked) meaning
Robert
553 Posts
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1
2013/10/11 - 11:43pm

This as part of an iPhone 5 spiel:

With just a touch of your home button, the touch ID sensor reads your print and automatically unlocks your phone.

Used that way, 'automatic' seems to mean 'using a new method, perhaps easier and producing quicker result.' Accordingly it should be good like this too:

With a slight suck through a hollow straw, juice automatically pulls its way up into the thirsty mouth.

With our multilayered backed-up networks and data center, 200 plus round the clock IT staffs to catch and correct unwanted errors, plus a doctor , full time nurses and psychiatrists, our modernized supply-chain is now fully automated.

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2
2013/10/12 - 12:01am

Robert proffered: With just a touch of your home button, the touch ID sensor reads your print and automatically unlocks your phone.

I agree that the word "automatic" is superfluous, and could be dropped without changing the meaning. I think "automatic" has become a "buzz word" in the tech world. People expect technology to be "automatic." It sounds good in ad copy too. But how many clicks does it take before it's NOT automatic?

Launch that app:

Contestant 1: I can launch that app in 3 clicks.

Contestant 2: I can launch that app in two clicks.

Contestant 1: Launch that app.

 

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