More an observation than anything else - has anyone else noticed the word 'alternative' is gradually disappearing in favour of 'alternate' ? E.g. "I was going to travel via Bristol but I took an alternate route"
"Alternate" to me will always mean one of two things between which you switch - "the light alternates between red and green".
I wonder why this is - is it just that 'alternate' is a shorter word?
Interested to hear any other thoughts.