ALITERATE

adjective and noun (People and Society) adjective: Disinclined to acquire information from written sources; able to read, but preferring not to. noun: A person who can read but chooses to derive information, entertainment, etc. from non-literary sources. Etymology: A hybrid word, formed by adding the Greek prefix a- in the sense 'without' to literate, a word of Latin origin. The hybrid form was intended to make a distinction between the aliterate and the illiterate (formed with the equivalent Latin prefix in-), who are unable to read and write. History and Usage: The word aliterate was coined in the late sixties, but it was not until the eighties that there began to be real evidence that the increasing popularity of television and other 'screen-based' media (including information on computer screens) was having a noticeable effect on people's use of reading and writing skills. This observation came soon after it had been revealed that there were considerable numbers of people leaving school unable to read and write. In the early eighties, the noun aliteracy developed as a counterbalance to illiteracy; the two terms described these twin problems. As the eighties progressed, graphics and video became even more heavily used to put across information, to teach, and to entertain; aliteracy is therefore likely to become increasingly prevalent in the nineties. The nation's decision-making process...is threatened by those who can read but won't, Townsend Hooper, president of the Association of American Publishers, told some 50 persons attending an 'a-literacy' conference. Publishers Weekly 1 Oct. 1982, p. 34 According to a recent estimate, 60 million Americans--almost one-third of our entire population--is illiterate. And a recent report from the Librarian of Congress suggests that we may have at least the same number who are aliterate. The Times 27 Dec. 1985, p. 12