# Apparently, "Commentate" Is Now A Verb **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754 "2006-11-16T23:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/1 "2006-11-16T23:59:53Z")
Sigh. I know, I know. I accept it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/2 "2006-11-17T02:18:00Z")
**Contrapuntal** , I feel your pain. Let us pray that it is not the first step down the slippery slope toward “orientate.” Here’s my word pet peeve of the moment: “Misnomer” instead of “misconception.” ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/3 "2006-11-17T02:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Sigh. I know, I know. I accept it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. [/QUOTE] [What’s not to like? It’s been a verb since 1785~1795.](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commentate) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/4 "2006-11-17T04:34:13Z")
Hey, what a coincidence, i was conversating about this just the other day. ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/5 "2006-11-17T04:55:21Z")
Commentate has bugged me for a long time. I don’t care that it’s been in use for two hundred years. I don’t care that language is in a constant state of evolution. I just hate the word. It’s stupid. And thanks for reminding me that people out there say “orientate”. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/6 "2006-11-17T05:05:45Z")
Potate is a verb; to be a couch (or mouse) potato. “I spent all day potating to college football.” Yes, I know, you quayle at the thought. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/7 "2006-11-17T05:49:53Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] [What’s not to like? It’s been a verb since 1785~1795.](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commentate) [/QUOTE] Note that while it may have been in use since the end of the 18th century, its use in the sense of “provide commentary on…”, as in sports vernacular, is recent, and presumably what the OP disapproves of. Frankly, I concur. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/8 "2006-11-17T06:28:49Z")
“George Bush misnomered the idea that Iraq was responsible for 9/11.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-commentate-is-now-a-verb/380754/9 "2006-11-17T12:36:46Z")
What do propose as an alternative? Comment, presumably. But to me, someone who comments on a game is different from someone who commentates on a game. So how would you differentiate between these? Seems like a sensible distinction to me. [QUOTE=freckafree] **Contrapuntal** , I feel your pain. Let us pray that it is not the first step down the slippery slope toward “orientate.” [/QUOTE] And what’s wrong with “orientate”? Presumably you’re one of those people who uses “oriented” when you mean “orientated” :). “Oriented”, to me, means “made more like the Orient”.