10 nouns I wish were verbs
As writers and editors, we are the experts and enforcers of style and grammar at our organizations and for our clients. We are often the first ones people call when they have a language question. And more than once, we’ve been asked to settle disagreements about corporate style.
But sometimes even the enforcers like to break the rules. And that brings me to this week’s post.
Using nouns as verbs is usually frowned upon in formal writing. In fact, it’s one of corporate communicators’ biggest writing pet peeves. (As in, “Send me a detailed outline and I’ll PowerPoint it for you.”) But, I often wish certain nouns could be verbs.
Below is a list of nouns that I wish we could use as verbs. I’m certainly not condoning their use as verbs . . . just engaging in a little wishful thinking.
1. Enjailed
“Within my mouth you have enjailed my tongue,” — William Shakespeare’s Richard II
2. Frankenstein
“I need to Frankenstein those images.”
3. Good morning
“To think that I should have lived to be goodmorninged by Belladonna Took’s son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!” — Gandalf from The Hobbit
4. Happy hour
When shall we happy hour again?
5. Houdini
I need to Houdini my way out of this meeting.
6. Librarian
“Let me librarian that for you.”
7. Science
“I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.” — Mark Watney from The Martian
8. Trouser
She trousered the cash from the fundraising event.
9. Verb
A recent example of verbing is the word “Google.”
10. Weird
“Verbing weirds language.” Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes
Confess, readers . . . which nouns would you like to use as verbs?
