NOW He's the President Elect

[elfs]

You know, it's actually annoyed me somewhat that the press has been referring to Barack Obama as the "president-elect." It's especially annoyed me (and made me wonder about the legality) that he's been acting from the Office of the President Elect (which is, in fact, a real office, created by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963).

Until the electoral college met, he was the president-designate. Now, as of 3:00pm yesterday, he's the president-elect.

Is this just nit-picking? I mean, it's a matter of law, isn't it?

Comments

That depends on the register of your conversation

[shunra.livejournal.com]

If you are writing a legal brief, the technical difference between one status and another is crucial.

If, however, you are speaking in a conversational register, to laymen rather than lawyers, you would probably use one of the most common definitions of any such phrase. These common definitions are collected in dictionaries, which in English reflect (rather than dictate) common usage.

Here's the dictionary entry for "president-elect" (Random House Webster 1999): a president after election but before induction into office.
President-designate was not included in that dictionary, which implies that it was not in common usage.

That said, the distinction is meaningful. If you use it enough, American lexicographers might take note.

(There are languages where dictionaries are prescriptive rather hand descriptive - or at least, try to be. Popular uprisings can get quite amusing in such linguistic environments.)