Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Plagiarize
To plagiarize something is to copy it and pass it off as your own work. It’s a practice that’s become easier and more widespread thanks to the internet. Two interesting things about the word: It’s one of the most frequently misspelled words, thanks to that “i” after the “g” that’s hidden from hearing. Secondly, the word comes from plagium, an old Latin word that means kidnapping, derived from the Latin noun plaga, a hunting net or snare used to capture game. So, plagiarizing is kidnapping, or capturing someone else’s words or ideas.
There are software programs available to check works for uniqueness or parts of text to count the number of matches. Scientists and universities began using this kind of software when it was estimated that in some cases nearly 60 percent of submitted work was plagiarized. The word “plagiarize” was first used in the context of stealing work or ideas in the 1600s, long before the internet, but the concept of a net remains fitting. The internet net may make it easier to kidnap another’s work but also easier to snare the plagiarist.
