America's suburbs: An age of transformation

[cubix]

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11449846

[natrius]

It was jarring when the informative article suddenly called the views of some "nonsense".

[georgecmu]

It's amusing that Economist's authors confuse 'homogenous' with 'homogeneous' and editors don't catch the mistake.

[gojomo → georgecmu]

'Homogenous' is a synonym for 'homogeneous'.

See: http://www.answers.com/homogenous and http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homogenous

[georgecmu → gojomo]

Not according to OED (see http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50107551?single=1&qu...):

Article for homogenous only has two meanings listed: 1. Biol. = HOMOGENETIC 1. 2. Surg. Of transplanted tisssue: = HOMOPLASTIC a. 2.

I suppose the confusion in everyday speech made it into American dictionaries, but I still find its appearance in a magazine perceived to cater to intellectual snobs amusing.

[jmilton → georgecmu]

While the OED may be considered the definitive source for the vast majority of words, many entries reflect the last print publication in 1989, and are not as in-step with modern usages. Language is continually evolving, and as always, it is best to consult a variety of sources.

[georgecmu → jmilton]

I prefer "changing" to "evolving" to describe this phenomenon. It is certainly interesting to observe two unrelated words with similar spelling become synonyms in less than 20 years.

[gojomo → georgecmu]

Definitions that are (1) in common use; and (2) not hidden behind a paywall are going to win out. The OED could learn a few things from the Economist.