James Baquet

    Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

    Becky: Oh, Lily! Tonight we are going to party, girl!

    Lily: Yay! But Becky, don’t you mean we’re going to a party?

    Becky: Huh? No! I used “party” as a verb just now.

    Lily: Really? I didn’t know you could do that.

    Becky: Well, some people say you can’t. But it’s becoming more and more common. We call it “verbing a noun.”

    Lily: Ooo, that’s ugly.

    Becky: Yeah, I know. In fact, I just used the noun “verb” as a verb!

    Lily: You’re giving me a headache!

    Becky: Sorry. But in fact, this is more common than you think.

    Lily: Can you give me some examples?

    Becky: Naturally. Do you know how to access your email account?

    Lily: Why? Are you going to send me some examples?

    Becky: No! “Access” as a verb is a fairly new usage. We used to say “get access to” something.

    Lily: Oh, I see! So verbing is a new thing.

    Becky: Not really. For one thing, lots of words that are now both verbs and nouns started out as one as the other.

    Lily: Okay, that’s for one thing. And for another thing?

    Becky: As far back as Shakespeare, and probably before, writers loved to play with verbing.

    Lily: Shakespeare?

    Becky: Sure! There’s a famous example in his play, “Richard the Second.” A badly behaving nephew says to the Duke of York, “My gracious uncle...” and the Duke replies: “Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.”

    Lily: Wow! I knew “grace” could be a verb, but never “uncle.”

    Becky: Here’s a more recent example. When my dad wanted something at the dinner table, instead of saying, “Please give me the soup,” he’d say: “Soup me!”

    Lily: Oh! I’ve heard guys say “Beer me.”

    Becky: Another good example. Of course, if you say “Salt me” or “Butter me,” someone might do just that!

    Lily: Funny! What about in more everyday language? I thought “access” was a good one.

    Becky: Okay. Some scholars believe that a lot of our weather verbs, like to rain, to snow, and to thunder came from the nouns associated with them.

    Lily: That makes sense. My mom waters her flowers every day.

    Becky: Good example. Other modern words, like to pressure someone, or to bottle some water, also came from nouns.

    Lily: I can think of some even more modern ones — to email someone and to Google something!

    Becky: Excellent! I read somewhere about how a lot of body parts became verbs a long time ago.

    Lily: Like, “She was eyeing a new dress.”

    Becky: Or, “She headed a committee.”

    Lily: But we never ear something, do we? Anyway, hadn’t we better go?

    Becky: Let’s party!