Verbed Nouns, Nouned Verbs,
and other interesting creatures

Here's a fun submission on verbs sent to Words Matter by Howard Sprenger of IBM, UK.

Verbing the Noun

The Foothills Of Mount Verbation

  1. switch
  2. click
  3. light
  4. hand
  5. hammer

The Verbaceous Border

  1. picture
  2. voice
  3. host
  4. chair

Poetic Interlude

  1. shoulder
  2. thumb
  3. nose
  4. eye
  5. pen

The Heights Of Verbiage

  1. bin
  2. outline
  3. action
  4. exit
  5. theme - "This is a themed restaurant."
  6. cursor
  7. input
  8. interface

Verboten

  1. rightsize/downsize/upsize
  2. leverage - "We must leverage our position in the market."

Nouning The Verb

Of High Renoun

  1. push/pull
    1. a push (or a pull)
    2. bell-push
    3. the earth's pull
  2. buy
    1. a buy (?)
    2. "A good buy."
    3. "This week's best buy."

Maybe Noun Then

  1. logon/off - "...force a logoff..."
  2. edit/read/write/erase
    • "...make a few edits..."
    • "I did a write to the file."

Noun But The Brave

  1. spend - "This year's spend..."

Conclusions

Not all are bad, but all are suspect.

It's a matter of personal preference...but preference is NOT unimportant.

Be aware of what your reader might think of your use of language.

Howard Sprenger
Information Planner, IBM United Kingdom Laboratories

Thank you for visiting WordsMatter.softville.com

  —  Bob Ray