Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Enforce vs. Inforce: Only One is a Word


Sherry writes:
This sign was all over a parking lot in Quincy, Massachusetts. 
Thanks, Sherry, for turning in this typo!

Of course, the correct verb is enforce, meaning to carry out. The police enforce the laws. As it turns out, inforce is not a word. But I happen to love this definition from Urban Dictionary:
inforced - Word used by an ignorant person trying to say something was put in force.
Person 1: Wow, she is an idiot.
Person 2: Why?
Person 1: She said a man's car insurance wasn't inforced yet.
Person 2: Oh wow, she is an idiot.
 Correction:
  • Enforced 24 hours a day

18 comments:

  1. This is not entirely true, particularly in the Person 1/Person 2 illustration above. "Inforce" in the insurance industry is commonly used and does have a meaning - although it is more proper to say the insurance wasn't "in force" rather than not "inforce" or "inforced". But agents will often refer to an "inforce" customer. "Enforce" would be incorrect in that situation.

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    1. If the expression is "in force" (two words), then as an adjective, it would require a hyphen to become an "in-force customer." Grammatically speaking, that is ;)

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  2. Yes I agree, in my company (insurance based), we have an expression, "Coverage not in force", to mean that coverage was cancelled prior to its start date.

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  3. Enforce not inforce but then reinforce not re-enforce...

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    1. Yes, to me it would seem that enforce would be to carry out, while inforce would mean to strengthen something that is not yet strong. I'm no English major, but to me, reinforce would be strengthening something that was or is already strong, hence the re-. If I was sending materials to reinforce a wall, the wall is already strong. If I was sending materials to inforce a wall, however, the wall has not yet been strong.

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    2. "Reinforce" is actually derived from the latin "rei." Originally describing the king's ability to remotely dispatch and command troops-- most commonly referring to the practice of sending additional troops to an ongoing battle in order to defend and maintain strategic position.

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  4. Just came across Frederich Engels Manifesto of the Communist Party (1888 English edition) -- . . . On the one hand inforced destruction of a mass of productive forces. . . . . -- so it appears to have an archaic basis (or is it a typo?).

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  5. Reading Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility', when I came across this spelling. Perhaps it's an older spelling of the word that was later done away with?

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    1. A quote would be so helpful. Combined with the above Engels quote, and both confirmed, they would refute the proprietor's assertion! The author would need to correct the title to, "... Only One is STILL a Word," perhaps.

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  6. There would probably be more of the possible concerns and values for the students to follow herein and these are either way said to be pretty important.

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  7. inforce
    Verb
    (third-person singular simple present inforces, present participle inforcing, simple past and past participle inforced)

    Obsolete spelling of enforce.
    English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

    Read more at http://www.yourdictionary.com/inforce#hdrUd6bPhHj7PpGW.99

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  8. In structural engineering and concrete construction, "reinforce" is the spelling used to describe the steel bars in concrete; or stated as reinforcing steel.

    So I have a student turn in a senior paper using the spelling "reenforce." (smiling) So "inforce" is not the commonly accept spelling, but "reinforce" is accepted. No wonder English is a hard language to learn. :-)

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    1. Clearly the human that wrote this never bought an insurance policy ever either. 'Inforce Illustration'? Or are all of the top insurers in the world idiots?

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  9. Yes, the word "reinforce" blows a hole in all this.

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  10. I think that “urban dictionary” definition is very insulting for people who is learning english or for who didn’t have the same education as you, you should be more carefully with these uncosntrutive comments

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