Here is but a partial list of sources in which the word "decider" appears. This should satisfy people who feel it is an unacceptable word for some reason. Note that all quotes date from before Bush's infamous comment.
Dictionaries
edit- OED
www.oed.com
- Merriam-Webster
www.m-w.com
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
www.dictionary.com
- Encarta® World English Dictionary
dictionary.msn.com
Books and CD-ROMs
edit- Decider by Dick Francis (Paperback - Dec 7, 2004)
- Rational Choice and Judgment: Decision Analysis for the Decider by Rex Brown (Hardcover - April 21, 2005)
- The Marriage Decider by Emma Darcy (Mass Market Paperback - 1999)
- The Deciders: Mission I - Goobie Troubles (CD-ROM - 2004) - Teacher's Edition
- Swing Voting: Understanding Late-Deciders in Late-Modernity (Critical Bodies) by Philip D. Dalton (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005)
- The deciders: The world of troubled youth by Jeffrey Eiseman (Unknown Binding - Jan 1, 1969)
Newspapers and Magazines
edit- The Economist
August 26, 1995, U.S. Edition Leaders; Pg. 15 "A political decision or appointment, not necessarily the right one, which is put off until, and often beyond, the final moment it can be made, the delaying of which causes damage to the decider, the appointee and the country." [in reference to Bill Clinton's delay in appointments]
April 19, 1997 World Politics and Current Affairs; EUROPE; Pg. 51 "The press was mesmerised by the thought. Every ministerial utterance, each visit to the Elys(acute)ee, was examined for new clues as to the intentions of President Jacques Chirac, the sole decider of such matters."
- Naval War College Review, Spring 2000, Vol. LIII, No. 2: 40-64
http://www.nwc.navy.mil/PRESS/Review/2000/spring/art2-sp0.htm
"When a decision is required, deciders are expected to choose the course of action that offers the greatest advantage to the national interest."
- The Guardian
Monday January 26, 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1130951,00.html
"Mr Smain called for the intervention of the shadowy figures, many of them former generals, considered to be the real powers in Algeria, and who are collectively known as les décideurs , the deciders."
Jul 1, 2003. pg. 8
"Gloucester crown court is to be the venue and circuit judge Jamie Tabor the decider."
- The Hindu 'India's National Newspaper'
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/10/stories/2004091002691200.htm
"I am the decider: Bal Thackeray"
- Newsweek
August 28, 2000, U.S. Edition NATIONAL AFFAIRS; Pg. 28
"From Reagan Democrats to 'angry white males' to 'soccer moms,' these groups of late deciders have coalesced in middle-class suburbs to cast their key votes."
- Computerworld (also reprinted in Macworld, PC World)
03/05/2006 http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;102445038;relcomp;1
www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/02/pornhd/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125618,00.asp
"Porn Industry May Be Decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD Battle"
- The Weekly Standard
January 2, 2005 Sunday
"But Burr was patient. His campaign had judged North Carolina voters to be late-deciders. "
- Kidscreen
May 01, 1997
"The children of the '90s have achieved status as consumers, deciders, influencers, buyers and users in consumer society."
- Buffalo News
Buffalo, N.Y.: Apr 2, 2006. pg. F.1
"But in the end, the ultimate decider of how I spent my time was me."
- Chicago Tribune
Feb 5, 2006. pg. 2
"That's what politics is in Illinois, slimy, everybody knows it, they've got patronage and gifts and contributions and fancy trips to vacation spots, but who made you the decider of what's legal or not?"
Feb 18, 2001. pg. 4
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin 'Tony the Decider' Scalia"
- Washington Post
Nov 1, 2004. pg. C.01
"But what happens when neither candidate comes across well on television? Maybe TV cancels itself out as The Great Decider, and maybe substance surpasses style, proving that television can convey the former as well as the latter."
Jun 28, 2000. pg. A.25 "the press has been able to fill a vacuum, and has established itself in presidential years as not only the Great Mentioner but the Great Decider."
- Boston Globe
Oct 13, 2002. pg. D.11
"...[Hillary] Clinton was a typical late decider who made the judgment that a "yes" vote had a chance to help nudge the UN to take meaningful action..."
- New York Times
N.Y.: Jun 15, 2001. pg. A.39
"Mr. Thompson, who originally seemed to want to give the researchers some leeway, has gone undercover pending further study and the return of the Great Decider [George Bush] from Europe."
People
edit- John Kerry
(Jan. 27, 2004 The Hollywood Reporter)
"THR: Should the media have a code of conduct for violent and indecent content that makes its way into the public sphere?
Kerry: Well, I think they do, and I think they have been cooperating in their attempts to try to do that. I think that the government should not be the decider, and the government should not be forgetting the importance of First Amendment freedom."
- John F. Kennedy
(The New York Times (Feb. 9, 1992) book review) "Though "Eyeball to Eyeball" adds to our understanding of the missile crisis, the final word on this crucial event is still President Kennedy's: 'The essence of ultimate decision remains impenetrable to the observer -- often indeed to the decider himself.'"
- Pervez Musharraff (quoted by Jim Hoagland The Washington Post. Feb 10, 2002)
"'They went back on their word. I told Vajpayee at Agra: We have been humiliated and so have you. Maybe I should talk to the main decider' in the Indian government the next time, he said he told India's leader, who Musharraf assumed had been overruled by 'hard- liners' in New Delhi."
- Shakespeare (from The Two Noble Kinsmen. I add this for kicks)
Oh great corrector of enormous times; Shaker of o’er-rank states; thou grand decider Of dusty and old titles, that heal’st with blood The earth when it is sick and cur’st the world O’th’ pleurisy of people
Websites
edit- BBC news selection of comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4455619.stm
"The next Pope will be the man picked by the Holy Spirit to lead the church. The Cardinals are only the instruments of decision, not the deciders. -George Gallagher, Saltcoats, Scotland"
- Pocket Decider software
downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2153-10358391.html
Action research: action and research (a paper delivered at Southern Cross University at the seminar "doing good research")
"The deciders and the doers are different people. This often results in a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of the doers."