Is veterancy a word ?

Question

A Google search yields hundreds of hits.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
It's known to OED.

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
For how many of them could either "seniority" or "experience" be used without changing the sense? Most, I suspect.

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
Well, we could have a philosphical discussion over whether any assortment of letters makes a "word." "Drewdr," for example.

But probably what you mean is, you don't find "veterancy" in any dictionary, right? It's not in Onelook.com.
In which case, I'd say the thing to remember is that any word has to be around for a while before dictionaries record its existence. A thing is still a "word" before it obtains dictionary status. (There were words before there were dictionaries.)
However, looking down the list of Google hits for "veterancy," I wonder whether they all mean the same thing. Is there one "veterancy" meaning, "being a veteran," and is there another one that has something to do with the world of computer gaming? The meaning or meanings are not clear.
Since you asked about it, you probably have some sense of one meaning, at least. Can you tell us?

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
It appears to be used in when discussing electronic or computer games simulating war: A search for
veterancy
turns up 656 hits. A search for
veterancy -game -games
leaves only 63 hits.

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, we could have a philosphical discussion over whether any assortment of letters makes a "word." "Drewdr," for example.[/nq]
Definitely an "orthographic word," that is, a string of characters preceded and followed by spaces. Of course, when someone writes "Is X a word?" X is inevitably an orthographic word. See "orthographic word" used in this sense at
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/ucrel/bnc2/bnc2postag manual.htm

in the "Manual to accompany The British National Corpus (Version 2) with Improved Word-class Tagging" by Geoffrey Leech and Nicholas Smith.
[nq:1]But probably what you mean is, you don't find "veterancy" in any dictionary, right? It's not in Onelook.com. In which ... clear. Since you asked about it, you probably have some sense of one meaning, at least. Can you tell us?[/nq]
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
:Interesting. Google's first recorded use of this word on usenet is 20 Jan 98:
Will Elway be able to pull out a big game with the chips down and everything on the line? That is, how much will his "veterancy" matter?
:Next is 12 Nov 98, in reference to the computer game "Tiberian Sun". This strongly suggests that the word was (re)invented by computer-games geeks:

Scooman : On the TS website, it says that battlefield experience enhances your troops' abilities. How does this work? Brett-WS : The unit type determines what experience the unit gets, if any.
Brett-WS : We call this "veterancy".
:The word then seems to have been picked up by spam bots! The next genuine use, and the first one without quotation marks, is on 17 April 99:

TS: What a way to start out this match for Jackson. He is showing us yet again his veterancy in the OWF ring and how he knows where he is in the ring AT ALL TIMES! For you kids out there who want to become a future wrestler, watch this man Joey Jackson. You could learn a step or two from him.
:That appears to be a transcript of "OWF Sunday Inferno" of 11 April 1999. This is "fantasy wrestling" though, not the real thing. Here's the next example, from 15 May 99:
What I did with Madison, is the same I will do with you. Madison was a difficult task because of his veterancy and experience, you though, will need to prepare for this thing heavily or I see a swift 'Tao Special' is in your near feature, my friend.
:Next, a review of "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms" dated 12 July 99:

Unit veterancy is a blast to play with and it really changes the dynamics of the game. Now I wonder when I should pull back and heal instead of sending out another stream of unit X's to wear down enemy defenses.
:By now the word is turning up regularly on the "Tiberian Sun" newsgroup, and it's clear the term is being used on other games. Although it's been stated that the word "veterancy" does appear in some large dictionaries, I'd say it was a "non-word": used by almost no-one. Its use was only invention (either deliberate or accidental). Then it was taken up by fantasy-game designers and its use in that milieu might leak into the mainstream. Having said that, I can only find another seven non-geek examples...
29 Sep 99 (soc.culture.singapore): I can't comment on the quality of thepilots though; as far as I know neither side has seen active aerial combat so the veterancy/human factor is an unknown.
2 Jun 00 (alt.sports.basketball.nba.vanc-grizzlies): In 5 years time hismaximum salary numbers will be higher based on his veterancy in the league and the rate of inflation built into the current CBA.
30 Jun 00 (alt.sports.basketball.nba.la-clippers): The one thing that willprobably prevent the Clippers from playoffs, this season atleast, is inexperience, with all those rookies. They certainly have the talent. Strong provided some needed Veterancy (is that a word?

, and Knight would do nothing but help this squad.
22 Dec 01 (alt.gothic): Just for the record, those kids did roughly the samethings, bragging about online veterancy and upload history.
17 Sep 03 (rec.arts.poems): "the five inveterate ribbons too many"Ouch; in the previous reading (your post), I read "invertebrate" at least twice. Still doesn't wanna "work," though. "Ribbons" (even County Fair ribbons) would indicate veterancy at something, and why I kept seeing "invertebrate," because the adjective simply doesn't fit its noun, i.e., "it couldn't possibly be 'inveterate'..." Eh? No, I couldn't make it "invertebrate," either.
10 Nov 03 (rec.art.poems): Only a washout draftee hates veterans overveterancy /this/ badly.
6 Feb 04 (rec.arts.sf.written): Taking on federal service (which at onepoint he said was, before the war with Klendathu, at least, 95 percent non-military i.e. civil service) is a per se demonstration of the commitment of an individual to serve his society. It is the personal commitment which makes the adult; in that society, adulthood is reflected by veterancy not created by it.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
Yes, for some things a Google search yields hundreds of hits. For some things, it may be thousands, and for others almost none at all.

For no good reason, the following was stuck on my clipboard. Even though it seems relevant to nothing in the text of your message, I thought I would pass it on:
(OED2, s.v. veteran)
Hence "veterancy, the state or condition of being a veteran. "veteraness, a female veteran. "veteranize v. U.S., (a) trans. to render a veteran; (b) intr. to re-enlist as a soldier.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A Google search yields hundreds of hits.[/nq]
[nq:1]For how many of them could either "seniority" or "experience" be used without changing the sense? Most, I suspect.[/nq]
Except for battle-hardened/savvy. Or 'adversarialy-tested'.

Is veterancy a word ?

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