Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Is it OK to turn the noun "Taser" into the verb "tasered"? Mary grammar How about the "nounification" of a verb? I work as a writer in the IT industry, where the use of English is especially appalling. I have become accustomed to seeing people refer to "the install." When I submit my timesheet to my IT contracting company, I see that "the submit" was successful. How about the "nounification" of a preposition? The Vice President of my client IT company sends out a company-wide email warning us that "there are no excepts." I think that this is not only lazy writing, but a display of ignorance, as well. How about having someone, ANYONE, edit these emails before they are widely distributed? Am I being a snob to expect more? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18660#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18660#Comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:15:17 GMT Omorose Panya grammar I would hesitate to call certain speech "lazy" simply because it differs from my own. That is supremely conceited in my book. I agree that some word choices are not the smartest (do font tags work on this site?), but to call them "lazy"... I equate that to a Sr. calling Jr. "lazy" because he wants to be a dance instead of a football player or instead of taking over Daddy-O's company. "Get over yourself" is all I can say to that. As for the verbification of words, I see no problem with it. The "there is a time and place for everything" still applies, so the word choice should be appropriate, but, again, I would not call it lazy or wrong. By the way, I prefer "tase". Thanks for another great podcast ;D http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18566#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18566#Comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:15:28 GMT Mooseboy grammar "To tase" may be more efficient-sounding, but IMO is wrong; the "Taser" is the noun, and if we are "verb-ifying" it, "to taser" is the proper verb form. Do we say somebody "lasered" or "lased" something, to use a similar (although crude) near-example? I have NEVER heard anyone say "lased". "To tase" merely evolved from the incorrect assumption that a "taser" is "something that tases", rather than the commercial acronym that it truly is. "Taser" is not a form of "tase" in the same way that "actor" comes from "act", or "writer" from "write". The taser is the FULL NAME of the object (just as laser would be), therefore if we're going to verbify, "to taser" is correct. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18263#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=18263#Comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:27:24 GMT Brian grammar To those who objected to "GoDaddification" as a noun rather than a verb: in that form, yes, it is a noun. But in order for a noun that ends in "-ation" to exist, generally there needs to be a verb form of it as well (pontification from pontificate, mutilation from mutilate, etc.). So saying "GoDaddification" presupposes that there's a verb "GoDaddify" or something similar. So it is a form of verbification (at its worst). Came across this post looking for a definitive answer on tasered vs. tased. I've always said tased, myself. Never been to this site before, but I have a feeling I'll be coming back :) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=17891#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=17891#Comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:55:17 GMT Reina W. grammar We must be very careful with the words that we utter especially when we are speaking in behalf of the crowd. Some words sound alike but they have different meanings.Arlen Specter has served in the U.S. Government with distinction for decades. He was part of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of John F Kennedy, and he's served as Senator for his home state of Pennsylvania for five terms – thirty years. Most of those thirty years were spent as a moderate Republican, but he has apparently had it, and has gone across the aisle. He didn't need a no fax cash advance to tempt him, he has been voicing his dissatisfaction with the Republican caucus for some time. President Obama has already given him a message of welcome. Now Democrats are closer to a filibuster proof senate. No installment loans will bring Arlen Specter back to the GOP. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=16836#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=16836#Comments Mon, 04 May 2009 03:08:59 GMT Cameron grammar it is tase not tasered, every time I hear an american police show, and they say stay still or i will taser you, how can you tazer some one when it is the name of the product. So it has to be taze (tase) or tazed (tased) not taser or tazer as it is the name of the product. it is not that hard to figure it out really, or is it for some?? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=16460#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=16460#Comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:50:37 GMT Klaus Heck grammar ...but even they seem confused because even though they use tased in the headline, they use tasered in the article, thereby violating my first rule for dealing with ambiguous language areas, which is to pick a style and be consistent ... Even I am only an ESL-learner, I have the audacity to give you an advice, grammagirl: Today in Google-times there is a good reason, not to be consistent in style and even to make errors like erors ;-) and the reason is, that people may google for those words. So if you in one article use "tasered" and "tased" your article will be found by people that either google for "taserad" or for "tased". Sorry for my poor English, I hope you understand the content though. Thank you for your podcasts Klaus Heck Aachen, Germany PS: my real mail is 2009@kheck.info, but the program refuse to accept this, so I changed to the fakeadress "anno2009@kheck.info". http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15861#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15861#Comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:09:27 GMT Paula grammar "GoDaddification" is a noun. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15781#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15781#Comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:42:34 GMT Steve grammar A verbification I've been hearing too much of late is to "orientate," derived from orientation. What's wrong with the original (and simpler) "orient"? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15304#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=15304#Comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:46:30 GMT TL grammar "I can taste!" declared the nearly-tongueless prison guard of the Unabomber as he picked up his taser and tased Ted. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=13999#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx?commentid=13999#Comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:06:56 GMT Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:15:17 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-verbification.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us