willclarke.net

During this contentious health care debate, we should keep in mind what’s really important: grammar.

Generally:
Preventive is an adjective, as in “We need to spend more money on preventive care.” Preventative is a noun, as in “This vaccination is a preventative for the flu.”

Of course, “preventative” has an extra syllable and people like to use it to sound smart. So it has been overused a lot, to the point where it is generally accepted as an adjective. But technically, when you refer to care that prevents later disease, you should say “preventive care.”

Sometimes when people misuse this word, I like to later refer to “preventitative” care, which of course is not a word but is even longer and makes me feel superior because I am both playing their more-syllables-is-better game and subtly making fun of them.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, maybe the reason people overuse “preventative” isn’t because they want to use more syllables; rather, it is because the letter T is elitist. Take the word “often” for example: the T is silent. But people pronounce it when the are being snobby.