Culture & Religion — January 7, 2011

Why We’re Turning Nouns Into Verbs

English is in a constant state of flux. New words are formed and old ones fall into disuse. But no trend has been more obtrusive in recent years than the changing of nouns into verbs.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Mothers and fathers used to bring up children: now they parent. Critics used to review plays: now they critique them. Athletes podium, executives flipchart, and almost everybody Googles. Watch out — you’ve been verbed. The English language is in a constant state of flux. New words are formed and old ones fall into disuse. But no trend has been more obtrusive in recent years than the changing of nouns into verbs. “Trend” itself (now used as a verb meaning “change or develop in a general direction”, as in “unemployment has been trending upwards”) is further evidence of — sorry, evidences — this phenomenon.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Culture & Religion

When Nouns Go Verb

Nouns that have changed to verbs, such as ‘login’, ‘text’, and ‘unlike’ have some grammarians in a fuss, but one lexicographer celebrates the changes as evidence of language’s dynamism.

Person examining a petri dish with tweezers, holding small colored objects, against a dark background.

Health

Are microplastics really destroying our health?

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

▸

10 min

—

with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

Up Next

Surprising Science

2011’s Disrupters

Who will set 2011′s standards in NewNet technologies like social media and real-time feeds? These are the disrupters to watch: Facebook, Twitter, Skype and LinkedIn.