Nounify Verbs and Verbify Nouns · 11 March 2023
Maybe it is just me, but I think it rather annoying when people nounify verbs and verbify nouns.
Have you ever noticed that people create nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns? And that it seems to be happening with greater frequency? I have. First of all, I think it strange. Second of all, I think it annoying. Third of all, I wonder if there is any way it will ever stop.
Maybe it is just me, but I think it strange when people nounify verbs and verbify nouns. One of the first times I was annoyed was when people in education used certificated. “Certificated?” I thought. “When did that become a word?” Well, it must be a real word nowadays because my spell checker does not even flinch at it. Oh sure. There is a word CERTIFICATE, but it is usually pronounced with a short vowel sound. Like when you get a certificate for participating. A participat certificate. Something like that. (Yes, I spelled participate wrong so that you might try to sound it out and rhyme it with certificate.)
At any rate. I could not and still cannot bring myself to use that word. I have a certificate to teach, but I would not say I am certificated. At least not without gagging or kicking myself for using the word. It is hard enough writing the word. It sticks in my craw as it were.
Like I said, I found the word strange at first, but then, I found it annoying. But I could only say so to a few people since the word was in such wide usage. Which is annoyingly how words get lexiconized. People use and misuse a word long enough and it gets stuck into the dictionary. Dictionaryized or lexiconized, as it were. Annoying.
Unfortunately, I do not think that verbifying nouns and nounifying verbs will ever stop. People start using nouns for verbs all the time nowadays. Think about it. You gotta man up. (Verbifying the noun man.) Or you…
Well, I cannot think of anything right off the top of my head. But I know they are out there. Verbs being used as nouns and nouns being used as verbs.
(By the way, if you really want to verbify a noun, all you need to do is put “ize” at the end. It ought to work. And sometimes you can just use the noun as a verb anyway and nobody will question you. That same trick seems to work with nounifying a verb. Just use the verb as a noun. Of course, you might want to add “ify” to the end if you are unsure of yourself. Try it. Just creationify some word by adding “ify” to it. Try it, you’ll like it. Or you’ll gag on the words you try to lexiconize.)
Well, that is about all the complaining I need to do about nounifying verbs and verbifying nouns. And for all our sakes, I hope that they (whoever they are) never lexiconize nounify and verbify.
© 2023 Michael T. Miyoshi
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