[lit-ideas] Re: Human beings.

  • From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:10:02 -0700

Lawrence wrote

When verbs function as nouns they are called gerunds, e.g., "asking" in "do you mind my asking you?" [example from the Oxford Dictionary of English]

I think that we were discussing (and at least on my part) decrying the creeping transformation of nouns into verbs, as in 'She is to helm the new institute.' This is easy to do by appending 'ize' to a noun, as in 'supersize this.' Easy for those with tin ears, maybe, but the Mutton College stylebook rightly frowns on it.

I'm not sure though why 'theorize' seems perfectly OK while 'prioritize' grates. Is it just a matter of our having been acclimatized to the former over time? (Readers outside the US may want to replace z with s where needed.)

Robert Paul,
watching language deconstruct itself







------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: