# Another question for Linguists-- "Install" v. "Installation" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938 "2025-06-21T16:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/41 "2025-06-23T12:58:14Z")
Eh, we all have things that peeve us. Any reason why that one? Or is it just one of those things that just is? ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/42 "2025-06-23T13:07:01Z")
It’s just imprinted on me as a verb, and I see it less frequently as something like “dish” (used as verb or noun). When I come across “install” being used as a noun, I guess I expect it to be used differently. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/43 "2025-06-23T13:12:38Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Same reason people send you an “invite” instead of an “invitation”. Exactly. AI had this to say: _\> In slang, verbs are frequently used as nouns, a process called “verbing” or nominalization. This involves using a word that is traditionally a verb in a sentence as a noun, often without any morphological changes_ ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/44 "2025-06-23T13:33:35Z")
And, to close the loop, “verbing” nouns often happens because the verb form is shorter than the noun, and humans are lazy. Ask v. question Install v. installation Invite v. invitation Cite v. citation > [@pulykamell](#): > > Like I wouldn’t say “a military install” for “a military installation.” That is correct, at least as I’ve heard it. It’s only used a substation for the meaning of installation that is the process of putting something in place (installing a radio, per the OP) not a permanent structure or facility or sculpture. ETA: English goes in the other direction too, turning nouns into verbs. So we might “email someone” v. “send someone an email” - again the converted form is shorter, which is probably why it became popular. Or the classic “verbing weirds language”, which is way more concise than “converting nouns to verbs makes language weirder”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/45 "2025-06-23T14:07:14Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > and humans are lazy. Lazy or just more efficient? I grew up being taught to economize my writing, yet when it comes to economizing words, it gets labeled as “lazy.” What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/46 "2025-06-23T14:56:25Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Or is it just one of those things I’ll add (to my earlier thought) that it creates some sort of unresolved suspension to me, like a song that ends on an unexpected note. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/47 "2025-06-23T15:08:50Z")
I suspect it may be an issue of familiarity and exposure, and maybe how adaptable one is to change. I know there’s been words and phrases that have crossed that rubicon from feeling utterly bizarre and weird to me, to completely unobjectionable or even used by me. One that grew on me is the construction “needs [verb]ed” like “the car needs washed.” Used to grate on me; now I like it, though wouldn’t use it just anywhere. Similarly “the dawn” came from a shortening of “the dawning” via Shakespeare. I’m sure it must have sounded odd at the time, but now perfectly unremarkable. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/48 "2025-06-23T15:32:13Z")
Here’s one I’ve only heard in the last few years: Nominative spend. Let xxyyzz help get your company’s spend under control. Can I pay for this with my spend card? Payroll and spend, all in one portal. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/49 "2025-06-23T15:33:48Z")
“Compute” is another that has shown up relatively recently, at least to the plebes. I’m only just getting used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/50 "2025-06-23T21:30:46Z")
You may be right. As I’ve been reading this discussion, it seems like “Install” and “Installation” have begun to acquire separate meanings (as @Johanna talked about [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/2?): People seems to still use “installation” as a concrete noun (“military installation” and “art installation”) but use “install” for the abstract noun (the “equipment install”). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/51 "2025-06-23T22:58:49Z")
> [@DaveUnknown](#): > > It’s just imprinted on me as a verb, and I see it less frequently as something like “dish” (used as verb or noun). When I come across “install” being used as a noun, I guess I expect it to be used differently _Impacted_ used to really bug me, as in “it impacted me” instead of “it had an impact on me”. Now I barely even notice it. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/52 "2025-06-24T17:34:13Z")
Complaints about “verbing” go way back. As early as 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Noah Webster complaining about the trend he had observed of people starting to use “substantives” (by which he meant nouns) as verbs, a usage that he called “awkward and abominable.” The three such verbs that he mentioned specifically were “notice,” “advocate,” and “progress.” To Franklin, those should only be nouns. I’ll bet you’ve used at least one of them, possibly all of them, as verbs your whole life without giving it a second thought. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938/53 "2025-06-24T21:52:53Z")
We also use adjectives (or words that onve were adjectives) as nouns - often. “Submarine,” “hamburger,” “take-out” (a verb form turned adjective, turned noun!), etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-for-linguists-install-v-installation/1019938.md?page=2)