So, to CIB-173RDABN's point, by its nature, English is most adaptable, which makes it versatile, nuanced, and frequently confusing.
Posted on 12/11/2021 7:38:03 AM PST by 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.
“verbification”?
A noun converted into a verb used to be called a GERUND. Most gerunds were formed by using the suffix *ing*.
Perhaps the rules have changed, it’s been a LONG time since I studied English.
Good story. I’m going to xerox a copy of it.
We are flushing 4,000 years of highly developed civilization down the toilet.It's so frustrating, I agree, and I feel that way daily.
I’d put “xi/xer” in the “confusing” category.
What do you think? Will that crap flame out? Or take root and become standard usage?
Sadly, I think Grammar Guy is correct that since “xi/xer” won’t take, we’re stuck with “they” as singular.
At best, we’ll likely have bifurcated usage, which is inherently imprecise. (Without specificity we cannot have truth.) I still see “she” used for the generic 3rd person singular in place of the “he”, and I think, “oh, how quaint.” But it’s still out there.
Grammar Guy claims that “they” is appropriate for the singular so long as the reference is clear. That’s ludicrous, as “they” is plural so it cannot possibly refer to a singular noun. But they’ll get away with it and further pollute our language, just as our economy, our culture, our decency, as everything the left touches it degrades.
Uh, ‘Peter’ principle. Ahem.
Quoth TLI, The vast wisdom of Calvin and Hobbs will never be totally understood.
My thinking was that she did something she was good at and got promoted, until she finally got a job where she was bad, and that the story involved peters.
Cleopatra: Do I have any openings that this man might fill?-PJ
😂
Another Mel Brooks favorite of mine:
Sire, the peasants are revolting!
King - They stink on ice!
Or the old one about the lady boss who’s tired because she’s been riding the staff all day.
I love gerunding!...................
I Duck-Duck-Went his bio. Not much there.
This guy has too much time on his hands, entirely too much.
I agree....but this is an old thread. It goes back to 2021.
I’m curious as to how it became resurrected.
No, "to compute" begot "computers" ... and "computer" was a job description, not the word for some device. "Computers" were human, and frequently female.
The device on which you're reading this message is an "electronic computer" ... to distinguish it from the largely extinguished human variety.
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