"Conversating"? Since When Is This A Word?

[DMark]

It was about a year ago one of my students was giving a speech and said he was "conversating" with a friend. First time I had heard someone say it.
I pointed out it was not a word, and he probably meant conversing, or having a conversation.
Then I heard "conversating" again from another student about 9 months ago.
And now, about once a month, I hear other students using this word.

Am I missing something?
Was this word used in some hit song or movie?
Is there a reason for this word to suddenly be in vogue by college students?
Is it slang or stupidity?

BTW, this word is being used by black, white, male and female students.

[Maastricht]

Perhaps conversing is now a computer term?

" Oh, I'll converse your paper back to the doc. format for you." And converting is nowadays mainly used in the religious sense...

[njtt]

I think this depends on whether you are prescriptivator or a descriptivator.

[WotNot]

Perhaps conversing is now a computer term?

Perhaps, if The Computer Wore (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065566/) Tennis Shoes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converse_(shoe_company))

[Jumpbass]

Oh boy, another new word.

Put that on the list with "orientated".
"I went to my first day on the job and got orientated."

Yeesh...

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I have heard this typically used by Africo-Americans since the early 1990s. YMMV.

[Rumor_Watkins]

Oh boy, another new word.

Put that on the list with "orientated".
"I went to my first day on the job and got orientated."

Yeesh...


orientate is a perfectly valid word. unless you're 150 years old and still bitter?

(it's a back formation from 1850)


(i'm not the world's greatest grammarian, but turning valid word "orientate" into "orientated" wouldn't implicate any new rules right?)

[Rigamarole]

I have heard this typically used by Africo-Americans since the early 1990s. YMMV.

Yeah, it's a black word.

(the OP stating he's heard it from black and white students notwithstanding - the culture rubs off)

[CalMeacham]

According to the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary, it's a word, and has been in use since at least 1973:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conversating

[pulykamell]

I have heard this typically used by Africo-Americans since the early 1990s. YMMV.

My first experience with this word is probably from about the same era, early 90s.

Etymonline's entry is:


conversate Look up conversate at Dictionary.com
by 2000, apparently a back-formation from conversation or an elaboration of converse. According to some, from black Amer.Eng.


It certainly predates 2000. I can find usenet postings going back to 1989 that use "conversate" and "conversating," plus we have the Merriam-Webster listing for "conversating" above.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

It starts showing up in Google News Archive searches with notable frequency about 1993.

[Shirley Ujest]

This word is uncromulent.

[GuanoLad]

This word is uncromulent.I think you mean incromulent. Or anti-cromulent.

[WotNot]

I think you mean incromulent. Or anti-cromulent.

Strictly speaking it should be acromulous – but that's another battle that's been fought and lost.

::sigh::

[Nzinga, Seated]

Strictly speaking it should be acromulous – but that's another battle that's been fought and lost.

::sigh::

So, not 'discromulous'?? Hmm. I thought we use the prefix 'dis' when the latin root word 'crom' meaning 'adequate' is used.

Conversate has beeen used in black slang for as long as I can remember. I have always used it with my friends, it is used in hip hop, etc.

I do realize the correct word is to 'converse', but I still use conversate all the time in informal settings.

[Onomatopoeia]

Conversate is not new; it's wrong, but not new. I've heard it since my teens in the late '70s. Heck, my cousins used it all the time. It is a common black colloquialism.

[AskNott]

I think you mean incromulent. Or anti-cromulent.

Only in the third decromulension. In the military, it's non-crom.

[WotNot]

So, not 'discromulous'?? Hmm. I thought we use the prefix 'dis' when the latin root word 'crom' meaning 'adequate' is used.

Either's fine. I thought acromulous seemed closer to what Shirley Ujest meant, but you're right, discromulous would probably be more usual.

Though not necessarily in the south, of course.

[GuanoLad]

Strictly speaking it should be acromulous – but that's another battle that's been fought and lost.

::sigh::Is it Latin? I thought it was from the French: ecromulientte

[pulykamell]

Conversate is not new; it's wrong, but not new. I've heard it since my teens in the late '70s. Heck, my cousins used it all the time. It is a common black colloquialism.

Last year, I had a cousin from Poland (between high school and college) who wanted to come over to the US for a summer to learn English. I was amazed that the ESL department representative at the suburban community college we went to used the word "conversate" twice in her pitch to us. (And, for those wondering, she was not African-American.)

I'm very liberal with language and have no problem with the word "conversate" in context. But in a formal setting when selling an ESL program?

[Man With a Cat]

Once again, an occasion to review my favorite apparently made up word, brought to my attention by several of my co-workers, each of whom have advanced degrees in education.

Consequence Used as a verb.

As in, when reviewing updates to student handbooks " should we change how we consequence students for this particular offense?"

Some educationers they are, huh?

[Punoqllads]

I call on all edumacators to refudiate this word or concept.

[descamisado]

I'm copastetic with that.

[Nzinga, Seated]

I'm copastetic with that.

R.I.P, 'copacetic'. I haven't heard it pronounced that way in the hood EVER. I still say it that way though, out of respect for the unique history of the word.

[pulykamell]

R.I.P, 'copacetic'. I haven't heard it pronounced that way in the hood EVER. I still say it that way though, out of respect for the unique history of the word.

Huh. Until I just looked it up right now, I had no idea "copacetic" was non-standard.

[CanvasShoes]

Yes, yes, it's been put into the dictionary, whatever! "We give in because this is so widely used even if incorrect" does NOT make a word correct (I'm looking at YOU >> "I'm nauseous").

[Cat Whisperer]

Yes, yes, it's been put into the dictionary, whatever! "We give in because this is so widely used even if incorrect" does NOT make a word correct (I'm looking at YOU >> "I'm nauseous").
See also PIN number, VIN number, and ATM machine. :)

[Runs With Scissors]

I'm not saying it's correct, but Fonzy used to say to the nerds: "Conversate with me!"

Fortunately, I don't have a cite.

[Ann Onimous]

The word I hear is complected: as in, "He's fair complected" or, "She's dark complected."

It's complexioned.

[Count Blucher]

Yes, yes, it's been put into the dictionary, whatever! "We give in because this is so widely used even if incorrect" does NOT make a word correct (I'm looking at YOU >> "I'm nauseous").

Best User Name / Post Combo O The Day

It gets the Converse rubber stamp of approval

[Inner Stickler]

While conversate makes me blink in an oral presentation and I would certainly have issues with it in a written assignment, I have no problems with it in casual speech and in fact am having difficulty understanding why one would.

[BigT]

While conversate makes me blink in an oral presentation and I would certainly have issues with it in a written assignment, I have no problems with it in casual speech and in fact am having difficulty understanding why one would.

I for one can't hear it in a way that doesn't sound like an old person trying to sound "cool".

[Inner Stickler]

And yet the OP is hearing it from college students who appear to be using it completely straightfaced.

[Onomatopoeia]

And yet the OP is hearing it from college students who appear to be using it completely straightfaced.And I shake my head in sadness. Bolding mine.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Yes, yes, it's been put into the dictionary, whatever! "We give in because this is so widely used even if incorrect" does NOT make a word correct (I'm looking at YOU >> "I'm nauseous").

Oh, CanvasShoes, thank GOD! You got here just in time. Lifetime students of language and respected linguists were languishing under the illusion that there was a case to be made for descriptivism; but now that you have settled the matter, they can relax. Whew.

[minlokwat]

I’ve observated folks utilizating this word for some time.

Fortunately I always reservate judgment.

[descamisado]

But that just begs the question then, doesn't it?

[Nzinga, Seated]

But that just begs the question then, doesn't it?

A lil' embarrassed to admit this, but;

Although I understand that the 'wrong' way people use this phrase, I have never been able to really grasp the 'right' way it is supposed to be used.

I have wiki'ed it, but I don't fully grasp the original usage.

[descamisado]

For me also, it's one of those things like obscenity -- I can't define it, but I know it when I see it! and it drives me crazy when posters here use it when they probably mean "That raises another issue," or "I think you've missed the point".

This link (http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalfallacies/a/beggingquestion.htm) might help.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I have heard this typically used by Africo-Americans since the early 1990s. YMMV.


Conversate for a few/'cause in a few, we gonna do/what we came to do, ain't that right, boo?

And that was '95, so I'm sure the "word" comes from before that.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Conversate for a few/'cause in a few, we gonna do/what we came to do, ain't that right, boo?



True.

[Inner Stickler]

A lil' embarrassed to admit this, but;

Although I understand that the 'wrong' way people use this phrase, I have never been able to really grasp the 'right' way it is supposed to be used.

I have wiki'ed it, but I don't fully grasp the original usage.You assume as true the point you are trying to prove.

My physics class is boring because it's not interesting.

My foot pains me because it hurts.

Stuff like that.

[Markxxx]

I have heard this word when I was in my 20s (in the 1980s). I wonder if it was in a popular song or something of the time and caught on?

[Blaster Master]

I've been hearing conversate, and similarly orientate, for a number of years now. Yes, I think they're annoying, not so much because they're incorrect, but because they're unnecessary. I can understand where the error came from, but I think some people use them because of some idea that bigger words come across as more intelligent, so saying "conversate" instead of "converse" or even "talk to" makes people feel like they're presenting themselves better. It seems like a phenomenon not too dissimilar from people saying stuff like "utilize" when they mean "use".

So, really, it just bothers me because it seems pretentious, results in extra syllables, and can potentially result in confusing the point that one is trying to make. It's fine to use longer words when it adds something that the shorter one doesn't, but a word like "conversating" adds absolutely nothing over "conversing"... well, nothing you'd want to add at least.

[Nzinga, Seated]

...So, really, it just bothers me because it seems pretentious...

Seriously. I think you have it all wrong, here.

ETA: thanks, des and Inner Stickler. I still don't feel confident enough to use the phrase, but I'm getting it better now.

[Zyada]

Google ngrams can add some interesting information to these discussions

Conversating alone (http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=conversating&year_start=1920&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3)

Conversating vs. Conversing (http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=conversating%2Cconversing&year_start=1920&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3)

[Shirley Ujest]

Last year, I had a cousin from Poland (between high school and college)



Poland is located between High School and College? I are confusticated.