{"id":337,"date":"2011-10-19T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T04:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=337"},"modified":"2011-10-20T11:02:27","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T22:02:27","slug":"a-verbing-we-will-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"A-verbing we will go"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Over the past few years, I\u2019ve noticed a plethora of verbs that just didn\u2019t exist back in my school days.\u00a0 And most of these verbs are formed from nouns.<\/p>\n

Back in those pre personal-computing days, we certainly didn\u2019t email, text, Google or Skype.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t spellcheck.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t format or initialise.\u00a0 Nor did we blog or tweet.<\/p>\n

But even outside the realm of technology, I don\u2019t recall cricket umpires widing deliveries that passed beyond the batsman\u2019s normal reach. \u00a0And, while batsmen cut, pulled, drove, swept, and glanced, I don\u2019t remember a single batsman ramping.<\/p>\n

We used bookmarks; but we didn\u2019t bookmark.\u00a0 We attended parties; but we didn\u2019t party.\u00a0 We attended workshops; but we didn\u2019t workshop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were showcases for our talents; but we didn\u2019t showcase.\u00a0 And I\u2019m absolutely sure that, on sports days, not one of us podiumed or placed.\u00a0 (Although, on a good day, we did occasionally manage to come first, second or third.)<\/p>\n

One of my colleagues fumes (another verb formed from a noun) every time he hears a sports commentator using medal as a verb.\u00a0 \u2018Just no need for it,\u2019 he says.\u00a0 \u2018Besides, it\u2019s confusing and it\u2019s ugly.\u2019<\/p>\n

English speakers have been creating verbs from nouns for hundreds of years.\u00a0 And there must have been a time when everyday verbs like farm, form, foam, fish and filter sounded new and perhaps a little odd.<\/p>\n

\u2018Oi, Gyles, how about you filter that beer next time?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yer, what?\u2019<\/p>\n

I remember when a research assistant first suggested that I Google.\u00a0 It took me a second or two to realise what she meant.\u00a0 But ten years later, I Google without even thinking about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s just like shopping.\u00a0 Or phoning.\u00a0 Or cycling.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how many of the current crop of new verbs survive, and how many of them fade into obscurity.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s been a long time since I heard anyone use the verb matronise.\u00a0 And in case you\u2019re wondering, it means \u2018to render matronly\u2019 or \u2018to act as a female chaperone\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, I\u2019ve noticed a plethora of verbs that just didn\u2019t exist back in my school days.\u00a0 And most of these verbs are formed from nouns. Back in those pre personal-computing days, we certainly didn\u2019t email, text, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8,4,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}