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Subject:Re: Verbing Nouns From:Mitch Berg <mberg -at- IS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 26 Feb 1997 09:35:55 -0600
George F. Hayhoe wrote:
>
> David Orr noted:
>
> <<I newspapered while I Mondayed and coffeed yesterday. The article said
> Madeleine Albright Kissingered recently as she diplomatted while she
> Chinaed.>>
>
> It's either the scariest thing about our language or almost mystical, but
> isn't it intriguing that the sentence above is entirely comprehensible?
> Verbing some nouns gives language extraordinary compression.
It's intrigueing - the notion that our language has this sort of
resiliency.
Doubt it? Try it in German or Russian (just to name the two I know)
sometime, and see the looks you get! In English, if you oververb
(hahahaha!) people will just think you're californiaing. (This is fun!)
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