With the advent of social media, words, rather nouns like 'inbox' and 'bookmark' are now being used as verbs. Read on for more such gems...
The English language is constantly evolving, reason why many people believe it's so rich and vibrant.
One of the word trends that's been growing apace in recent times is that of nouns being turned into verbs.
While purists are aghast, saying it weirds language, others think it's cool and makes things simpler.
Here are some nouns that have recently become verbs.
1. Podium
In the sporting world, athletes who've made the top three places podium.
2. Final
Also in sports, there's now the practice of saying athletes have finalled.
3. Flipchart
On campus and in boardrooms, you no longer present a flipchart, you simply flipchart.
4. Handbag
This one's not quite new and goes back to Margaret Thatcher, who was known to handbag her opponents.
5. Anniversary
This, you must agree, is a bit weird and it's trendy especially with fashion stores.
Marks & Spencer recently announced that better-balanced autumn ranges should allow M&S to anniversary tougher comparisons.
6. Doughnut
Is this sweet, do you think?
When supporters surround a leader, especially in parliament, and form a ring, they are doughnutting.
7. Bookmark
Once it was a thick piece of paper that held your place in a book. Now you bookmark websites on a computer.
8. Inbox
We began with a folder which held e-mail. Now we inbox people on Facebook.
9. Zorb
A zorb is that massive orb that you crawl into and then hurtle downhill in. Or, you can just go zorbing, just as you can rollerblade and snowboard, if you're into extreme sports.
10. Pit
On the racing circuit, drivers find it too long to take a pit stop to refuel. Now, they simply pit.
11. Task
Employees don't have to perform tasks nowadays.
They are tasked with coding, updating files or creating backups.
12. Boilerplate
Documents are boilerplated these days, when they automatically include routine inputs.
13. Transition
If making a transition seems too roundabout, you can transition to a new arrangement/system/place.
But this one gets some people mad; they prefer the simpler 'switch' or 'move'.
14. Impact
The corporate world loves turning nouns into verbs. So conditions impact decisions.
Again, purists aren't pleased.
'Affect' is better they say if you must use a verb.
15. Rightsize
Some people think this is a euphemism for job cuts. But rightsizing is what companies do when they want to acquire an optimal size.
16. Action
This, again, is business speak. So when a CEO has 100 mails to attend to, he might just action 60 of them.
Well, I hope you have bookmarked the page to revisit these changes!
Lead image used for representational purposes only. Credit: Christine/Creative Commons
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