Call me a purist, but I believe that words should be used as they are defined in the dictionary.
It is for that reason that I bristle when I see or hear vogue words as, for example, in this news headline: "Obama’s Vacation Optics – Axelrod and Co. Fail to Protect President’s Image."
The use of "optics" to mean "appearance" or "impression" does not set the writer apart as he no doubt intended. Rather, it simply demonstrates that he is an unoriginal, unimaginative writer just jumping on the language bandwagon of the day.
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The Unbearable Rightness of Editing
