Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Sap's Guide to Verbing

A distinguished District Judge and I each take delight in turning up examples of improper verbing (e.g. "I am going to guinea-pig you on this") and suchlike barbarisms. The latest that he has come up with is "scaffolded" (e.g. "support will need to be scaffolded"). This has cropped up twice recently, once in family proceedings and once in the youth court. He goes on to make the point:- "Do they not realise the associations that word will have for a criminal lawyer?"
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11 comments:

  1. youngdoug31 July 2013 at 06:59

    Improper??!! It's a poetic delight of English that you can verb nouns and noun verbs so easily. Creative and innovative.

    Individuals who think that grammar should be prescriptive and based on the (very wrong) idea that there are 'laws' covering a language are... well, mightn't they like laws a lot? What's your work again? :-)

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  2. Also31 July 2013 at 10:15

    It had its use in a diminutive form in the youth courts when motor crime was at its height. To "scaff" was to break the steering lock by means of a length of scaffolding pole.

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  3. Anonymous31 July 2013 at 11:32

    If scaffold is not a verb, what does a scaffolder do?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous31 July 2013 at 17:51

      They erect. Yes this does generate an enormous amount of toilet humour.

      Delete
  4. Gordo31 July 2013 at 11:49

    I have come across a number of phrases, often involving the verbing of nouns, that have had me baffled as to what they meant. Keeping language simple is the key.

    The Americans have a particular enthusiasm for extended or tautologous phrases, such as "burglarization" for burglary. The one that vexes me in my industry is the phrase "on-boarding" for a new client joining the business. As boarding means getting-on, on getting-on is nonsensical.

    Let's stick to plain English, as the biggest risk with comminication is the mistaken belief that it has occurred.

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  5. Fitzroy31 July 2013 at 12:20

    Is 'scaffolded' not, in fact, being used as an adjective, here?

    Very improper verbing, then...

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  6. Kimpatsu2 August 2013 at 06:19

    Personally, I think all lawyers belong on the scaffold...
    ---
    The earliest example of verbing I can find dates from 1982, when an American journalist wrote "as I esclusived last week..."
    ---
    And then there's this:
    http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.cellep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/calvin-and-hobbes.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.cellep.com/tag/calvin/&h=273&w=800&sz=36&tbnid=MIaEOvC8cXw0fM:&tbnh=42&tbnw=124&zoom=1&usg=__5htrSo1HACNn_Lbp7YvqbvXiOVY=&docid=256g7-LmQYjZHM&sa=X&ei=NUH7UZKuC4S7kgXwroDQBw&ved=0CEAQ9QEwAQ&dur=501

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  7. Anonymous4 August 2013 at 06:33

    Some verbings are bizarre - like the current trend for things to be 'gifted' as though give/gave/given had suddenly disappeared from the language.

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  8. Bystander 4 August 2013 at 18:53

    Then there are the foods that supermarkets deem to be ideal 'for snacking'.

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  9. Also6 August 2013 at 13:04

    I can't envision a better site for showcasing such standout examples of massacred English.

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  10. Anonymous6 August 2013 at 16:34

    From a Courier firm's website I have the status of my parcel as being "At Sortation Facility".

    ReplyDelete

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