Several years ago, an article in an airline magazine, “Nouns Gone Bad,” really hit home with us.
It discussed the phenomenon of using nouns as verbs, and the growing prevalence of this practice.
A recent tweet (on Twitter) reminded us of this ever-growing trend …
“There is a poor grammar jesus bumper sticker collection on a van. I want to at least ‘Sharpie‘ it so it makes sense.”
You may know that a Sharpie® is a marker made by Sanford. Many professional athletes (and other celebs) use these markers for signing autographs. The pens have many other uses, and we confess to having what must be one of the largest collections of Sharpie® pens around (all colors, widths, point-types, and styles – literally, in buckets in the office). But we digress …
There is an interesting paper called “THE ENVIRONMENTAL STYLE” that was written in 2005 by R.P. Detwiler, NASA Office of General Counsel, in which this trend is addressed. Detwiler uses the examples: partner, team, dialogue, and task.
Have you heard (or used) these nouns as verbs? Maybe, in instances like (yes, we mean “like,” not “such as,” here):
- Let’s partner on this venture.
- How about we team up to find the solution?
- We can dialogue about that topic.
- My boss likes to task us with many jobs.
There are many other examples. There are even uses that are not primarily business-related:
- Do you know anyone who likes to go antiquing?
- The cops Tasered a stuffed animal the other day. (see the story)
- That recent study really impacted our lives.
- Did he transition from runner to cyclist?
- Will picnicked during the soccer game.
These days, use of the Internet provides us with the opportunity to perpetuate this bent:
- Ooh, let’s Google that …
So, now we add “Sharpie” to our list of nouns gone bad.
What are your offenders?
Be sure to see our related posts:
I am jonesing for something to drink.
Perfect! Thanks for your comment. “Jones” is added to the list.
“He defensed that play perfectly.” (You can rely on sport casters to massacre the language.)
oops…or should that be defenced???
Thanks for your comment. Either “c” or “s” is acceptable … good one! Yes, sportscasters are brutal on English!
Correctly, it should be defended.
We can DVR or TiVo television programs now or teleconference with colleagues across the globe. I’ve even heard someone say they were going to lotion up their skin.
Thanks for your additions! TiVo is huge on this list, with DVR not far behind. We’ll certainly add “lotion” to the list, too. We appreciate your contributions!
Of course there’s “friended” on Facebook/MySpace.
Good one! Thanks.
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My most hated one right now is: texted. And worse, I consistently hear people say “text” for the past tense, as follows: “So-and-so just text me a few minutes ago.” Even worse, just the other day, I heard someone say, “I have text Scott seven times, and can’t get an answer.” Yeesh…
Hi Cory, thanks for your message. You got it (even though you may hate it) … the past tense of text is texted. Yes, yikes!
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Ok, great work on the grammar here, but maybe you should shift your focus to the study of punctuation. I mean, look at this phrase: “we confess to having, what must be, one of the largest collections of Sharpie® pens around.” What must be should NOT be a parenthetical phrase, which is what the enclosing commas are doing right there. You either need to leave out the commas, or leave out “what must be” and the commas.
Sorry, just my two cents. Keep up the good work! (And stop the bad…)
Fixed. Thanks. We love commas and sometimes get carried away. Have you visited our sister site Comma Clout?
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[…] Nouns gone bad … […]
Oh my. After reading this I realize how often I do this and I am so ashamed of myself. I am just going to go crawl in a hole now and give myself a good lecture on proper verb and noun usage.