No, you didn't "gift" anyone anything

[Niner]

I carred my friend to the auto repair shop to retrieve his vehicle. He wanted to show his thanks, so he lunched me at a restaurant. Afterward, I went home and washered a load of towels. When the washer cycle ended, I dryered the towels. Then I typewritered a rough draft of this post and, finally, I've keyboarded the final version here.

Maybe the reason I loathe the pretend verb "gift" is that the first time I heard it it came from the trap of a soft yuppie I worked with. (Well, I worked. He mostly goofed off and tried not to perspire.) Anyway, I don't like it and I'm prepared to do something about it. I'll never use the word that way and I hereby guarantee to pay everyone else $10.00 US to never again use (or to never begin using) any form of "gift" as a verb.

To be clear, I will pay everyone. So that's $10.00 grand total for everyone. That includes those not yet born. Y'all decide how you want to split it up. If you want to try paying estates of the deceased with it, that's up to you.

[Chip]

In Modern American Usage (1966), Wilson Follett warns against what he calls "noun plague," that is replacing verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech with nouns.

To give is good. To gift is pretentious.

Working as a scientific editor, I had to strive against the tendency of authors to inflate their diction with long chains of nouns, rather than properly using adverbs, adjectives, etc.

https://lawprose.org/garners-usage-tip-of-the-day-noun-plague/

[Lloyd]

On the other hand, gift has been a verb for a long time. Think of the expression "he is gifted with great talents".

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[TFarnon]

I think I'm missing something here: in "He is gifted with great talents", "is" is the verb, and "gifted" is an adjective. You could also say "He is silly....", or "He is handsome...", but you wouldn't say that "silly" or "handsome" are verbs.

I confess I only like "gift" as a verb when used as follows: "I re-gifted the silver epergne Aunt Charlotte gave me". For some reason "gifted" as a verb bothers me while re-gifted doesn't. I would guess that it's because there is a past tense verb for "to give" already: "I gave him a bottle of wine". Re-gift fills a niche that didn't have a specific verb before.

The word (mis-) usage I truly detest is "impacted", as in "That piece of legislation really impacted the way we do business." Impacted is what bowels and wisdom teeth do/are. Affect is a perfectly good verb, even if people don't want to use it because they get it mixed up with effect.

[Lloyd]

Language is a living, changing thing: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gift

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[TSherbs]

Which came into use first: "niner" as a noun for a person or "gift" as a verb?

niner: 1853 gold rush usage, 1897 for "one who is sentenced to nine years in prison" (per etymonline.com). No earlier existence is attested.

gift (v): 16th century (per the O.E.D. that I have in my house). "gifted" meaning talented is 1640s.

[TSherbs]

sidebar: when I was in college (1980?), the "Book of the Month Club" out of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, was offering a steeply discounted complete (micro-print: you need a magnifying glass to read it) edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. I think that I paid $30 for the set. That was about the equivalant of about ten meals at MacDonalds, but I have fed from the purchase for the next 40 years, and still going. Now I just need a stronger magnifying glass....

[Chip]

Besides writing and publishing my own work (and dealing with squint-eyed copy editors), for many years I served as an editor for scientific articles and papers, and also helped to write many grant proposals for non-profit groups.

Overexposure to neologisms, corporate-speak, glittering blather, inflated diction, political correctitude, attempted grandeur, and other sorts of present mis-usage rendered me pretty damned allergic to egocentric and tactical distortions of English. The short sponsor bits on NPR frequently elicit howls of dismay.

[Chuck Naill]

I heard today that the COVID-19 virus does not "vacation".

[Chuck Naill]

Besides writing and publishing my own work (and dealing with squint-eyed copy editors), for many years I served as an editor for scientific articles and papers, and also helped to write many grant proposals for non-profit groups.

Overexposure to neologisms, corporate-speak, glittering blather, inflated diction, political correctitude, attempted grandeur, and other sorts of present mis-usage rendered me pretty damned allergic to egocentric and tactical distortions of English. The short sponsor bits on NPR frequently elicit howls of dismay.

I bet being an accomplished writer, you are more sensitive than most.

[Chip]

What are you sensitive to?

Anything?

[Chuck Naill]

I used to be as sensitive as you appear to be to so many things. Typos and spelling mistakes are not something for which I am sensitive. Going on a forum and getting bogged down in who didn't capitalize or use a comma says more about you than the poster. Plus, it makes you more sensitive about making sure you don't flub up.

I was actually attempting to give you a compliment as an accomplished writer. Cheer up!! I am not your problem, as @dneal pointed out. Its anger.

[Chip]

I am not your problem, as @dneal pointed out. Its anger.

In the case of you and dneal, it doesn't rise to that level.

It's annoyance.

[Lloyd]

I am not your problem, as @dneal pointed out. Its anger.

In the case of you and dneal, it doesn't rise to that level.

It's annoyance.
Why stay outside when there's mosquitos everywhere?

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[TSherbs]

I am not your problem, as @dneal pointed out. Its anger.

In the case of you and dneal, it doesn't rise to that level.

It's annoyance.
Why stay outside when there's mosquitos everywhere?

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect[emoji769]Because inside the party is too loud.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

[Chuck Naill]

You can tell he is angry. When you come here, expect confrontation. If you need a break, take it.

[Chip]

Why stay outside when there's mosquitos everywhere?

That's where the rivers and mountains and trees and wild animals are.

And you're scared of mosquitos?

[Lloyd]

Why stay outside when there's mosquitos everywhere?

That's where the rivers and mountains and trees and wild animals are.

And you're scared of mosquitos?
If you didn't realize, I was using a metaphor (I think that's what it was) for, "why stay somewhere that's full of pests when you don't have to?"

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[Chip]

Shall I compare thee to a mosquito?

Thou art more pudgy, with less ability to draw blood.

(Besides blurry sarcasm and an inept metaphor, what have you got?)

[Lloyd]

Neighbor, you are tedious.
I'm just another mosquito out here. There's more perilous creatures on this subforum.

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[Chip]

Neighbor, you are tedious.
I'm just another mosquito out here.

Mosquito at my ear—
does he think
I’m deaf?

—Issa

[Chuck Naill]

Somebody needs a nap.