English

              Patricia O’Conner, a noted grammar expert, writes, “English is not a stay-put language.  It’s always changing – expanding here, shrinking there, trying on new things, casting off old ones.”   The meaning of words and our usage of these words has always interested me.  In fact, I studied to be an English teacher because of my fascination for words and usage.  I try to follow the advice of Frederick Buechner, noted author and minister, who urges all writers to “find new words or put old words together in a combination that make them heard as new.”  Recently I heard a couple of speakers turn a noun into a verb.  These were nouns that I had never heard used as verbs before.  And, the surprising thing is that I understood them completely.

First example: A few weeks ago, I attended the knitting/crochet group at our church.  Because I was concentrating on my knitting making an afghan square, I was not really paying much attention to the conversation between our leader and another woman.  However, I heard our leader say, “She guilted me into doing that for her.”  I perked up immediately.  What? “Guilt” a verb? What she meant was that a woman friend of hers made the speaker feel guilty; thus she “guilted” her.  It appears the noun must have an “-ed” added to make this verb complete, but it still works.  I have learned since that many people have heard this usage before; it sure was news to me.

Second, the very next day, our son and I were discussing a funeral he had led two weeks previously.  The obituary in the newspaper had read that the deceased man had been buried in a local cemetery; however, I had learned that the man had wanted to be buried in the northern part of the state next to his first wife.  I asked our son if he had heard any of that news while he was dealing with the deceased man’s family as he prepared to conduct the service.  “No” he replied. “It was probably too expensive to hearse the body any great distance.”  What? “Hearse” a verb? What he meant was that it might possibly cost too much money for the family to put a body in a hearse and drive somewhere far north in Indiana for a burial.  Yet I knew what he meant when he used the infinitive “to hearse.”

My last example occurred many years ago.  Builders were just completing the motel located on North Broadway, just across the street and little north of Frisch’s Big Boy in Anderson.  At that time, our community had a strong organization of men who called themselves Gideons.  These gentlemen placed Bibles in schools, hospitals, hotels, motels, or anywhere administrative people would allow.  One Sunday morning a Gideon speaker came to our church to tell us of the latest activities of this organization.  From our church pulpit, he said, “We have not bibled that new motel yet.”  What? “Bible” a verb?  I have never forgotten that and I have never heard “bible” used as a verb since.   

All this goes to show that English is alive and well, that changes show the language is being used.  Did you notice that you understood completely what the three speakers meant even though nouns became verbs?  Also, each speaker used fewer words to transmit the same meaning which helps to understand.  I find it fascinating that today speakers are following Buechnet’s advice whether they realize it or not.