In this day of countless reality television shows consisting of
elaborate social experiments where people band together to vote
other contestants off an island, out of a mansion, and out of
the game itself, it never ceases to amaze me how prevalent the
incorrect use of the verb “align” has become when referring to
an alliance. “I decided to align with Tom on Day One, but then
our alliance was broken when Tom aligned with Dick. So then I
had to align with Harry.” By the time I post this, this error
may very well become have become so common that it is deemed
acceptable. This happened with the word “orientate”, which is
now in our dictionary as a result of the overwhelming incorrect
use of the word in society. This was typically done by people
(with good intentions) throwing it into conversation in an
effort to sound more schooled than they really are. (Recall
Damon Wayans’ classic parody from In Living Color, where he
played an artificially articulate prison inmate.) Social
acceptance of error doesn’t make it