Grammar Guy: Fight the trend of using nouns, such as 'Skype' and 'Google', as verbs

Savannah Morning News ^ | November 21, 2021 | Curtis Honeycutt

[DoodleBob]

There’s an ad out right now for Google’s Chromebook laptop with a slogan that says, “Switch to a new way to laptop.” While I’m hesitant to disparage any of our digital overlords for fear of being stricken from search results, I feel obligated to take a stand. You can’t “laptop” something; “laptop” isn’t a verb.

While I try my hardest to keep things positive here at Grammar Guy H.Q., certain things grate my grammar gears. While I’ve touched on the “verbification” of nouns before, I haven’t explored how marketers and company names have verbified nouns ad nauseam.

I know I’ve seen other versions of brazen verbification in the oversaturated commercial environment in which we live, but the Google example really made me want to laptop someone in the face.

Of course, it’s every modern company’s goal to become a verb themselves. While Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) tried hard to make “Bing” a verb, people still “Google” queries into search engines (usually Google). This made me wonder—what other company names have become verbs due to their overwhelming popularity?

When you owe a friend money these days, you don’t write them a check. You probably don’t even have cash. Instead you “Venmo” or “PayPal” them the money from your bank account into theirs.

This brings up another confusing point: do you keep the verbified company name capitalized? According to AP and Chicago stylebooks the answer is “yes,” although you’ll find the word “Google” as a verb lowercase (“google”) in many online dictionaries. The capitalization situation is in flux; stand by as this phenomenon evolves.

The official word nerd term for converting a noun into a verb is “denominalization.” While I don’t mind this word, I prefer “verbification” or even “verbing.” I like the irony of taking the noun “verb” and verbing it.

Have you talked to someone using a video feature on your smartphone? Chances are you either Skyped or FaceTimed with them. For some reason “video chat” or “video call” doesn’t suffice. Lately, we’ve Zoomed many of our meetings, Ubered our way home from a night out with friends and Instagrammed photos of our dogs. This is what modern companies dream of: make your product so ubiquitous that people use its name in place of a more descriptive-yet-common verb.

Until these company names become genericized (think chapstick, kleenex and thermos), I suggest capitalizing these verbified, trademarked words. If you disagree with me, feel free to conduct your own search engine research on a leading internet website.

[Dr. Sivana]

There was once a time that French was the premier language for science and diplomacy but it been overtaken by English. Why? I think because the French wanted to keep the language “pure” while English was allowed to change.

I think a greater factor was the power, reach and wealth of the British Empire.

[DoodleBob]

Boycott gerunds!

But they're so cute!

[aMorePerfectUnion]

No.

[Steve_Seattle]

The noun-as-verb thing has become a fad in the ad world, and I find it very annoying. Slogans like “A new way to pizza” and “A better way to holiday” drive me nuts.

[chopperk]

This guy needs to mind his own business.

[nicollo]

As does the F-B-Eye, this guy supports "they" as 3rd person singular pronoun:

So, according to the AP clarity is key here, primarily because the word “they” has always served strictly as a plural pronoun. But, as newer, experimental gender-neutral pronouns like “xe” and “ze” haven’t yet gained popular adoption or garnered widespread awareness, “they” is acceptable, as long as it’s clear to whom the writer is referring. When possible, it makes sense to use the subject’s name for clarity purposes, although that can quickly become redundant.
Drivers, start your gender-inclusive pronouns.

[Steve_Seattle]

I’ve never liked the word “party” used as a verb.

[nicollo]

Microsoft lost the search engine verb race when it chose “Bing” instead of “Bang”.

[Allegra]

…and using “they” and “theirs” as singular pronouns.

I cringe whenever I see that. Stupid, illiterate “woke” people. (I also hate the phrase “woke” used that way.)

[Persevero]

I love verbing nouns; I think it is a fun English thing to do. And I love my English, use the KJV, adore Shakespeare, and read Puritan works aloud on a podcast. So it’s not that I don’t love the English language.

[TokarevM57]

.....LOL...you beat me to the punch....!!..yes, indeed...not every photocopier is a “Xerox” machine; not all hook-and-loop fasteners are “Velcro”...not all polystyrene foam cups are “Styrofoam”...not all 1911A1 pistols are “Colt .45s” and on and on....as I remember it, aspirin was once a brand name, but its owners did not protect it so it is now a generic term....

[Persevero]

OH I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

I may make a xerox of it

[SoCal Pubbie]

Don’t you mean you might xerox it? Anyway, if I have enough booze on hand I might get plastered tonight!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I had a video visit with my doctor yesterday. Immediately after his name on the screen was “(he/him).” I thought to myself “WTH is that? Is that a software programming error?” Then it finally dawned on me that my clinic is fully woke. Grrrrr!!! I HATE this sh!t. We are flushing 4,000 years of highly developed civilization down the toilet.

[Maris Crane]

How about a Bank changing its name to a superlative degree of an adjective.

BB&T Bank became Truist Bank.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Me, too. I HATE when these leftist bastards steal the very language from us and "woke" is another nail in the English language coffin. They are primitive neanderthals, but they keep winning.

They are using 1984 as an instruction manual. The party controls the mind through the control of language (Newspeak), the control of history (the past) and the control of war and definition of enemies (DoubleThink). Democrats support 100% the destruction of the English language.

• “Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak”
• "We are cutting the language down to the bone”
• “...it’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words."
• [the[ “whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought...in the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.”
• "...individual thought, rebellious or unorthodox thoughts will be impossible and so, too, will the true concept of individual freedom. Each concept will be expressed in just one word. Any 'subsidiary meanings will be rubbed out and forgotten.'"

[Sirius Lee]

The guy is a f-ing asshat. The singular beauty of the English language is that it is an adaptive, monger language. This from someone who as a teen used to recite the prologue to the Canterbury Tales in as best O.P. As could be deduced at the time.

There were no doubt douchenozzles at the time of it’s composition who took offense to Norman words.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

The name Truist is apparently an invention based on marketing research. “Truest” is the superlative of “true”.

[Maris Crane]

So, it’s an invention???

Better, after all our language is adaptable.

[left that other site]

It is elitist to use the noun “summer” as a verb, as in:

“We used to summer in the Hamptons, but now we prefer Martha’s Vineyard.”