# "Conversating"? Since When Is This A Word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932 "2010-12-21T07:11:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/1 "2010-12-21T07:11:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/2 "2010-12-21T07:13:55Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/3 "2010-12-21T09:52:11Z")
I think this depends on whether you are prescriptivator or a descriptivator. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/4 "2010-12-21T10:51:30Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > 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)) ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/5 "2010-12-21T16:42:46Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/6 "2010-12-21T16:47:21Z")
I have heard this typically used by Africo-Americans since the early 1990s. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/7 "2010-12-21T16:50:55Z")
> [@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… 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?) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/8 "2010-12-21T17:25:13Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/9 "2010-12-21T17:47:01Z")
According to the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary, it’s a word, and has been in use since at least 1973: > **[Definition of CONVERSATE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conversating)** > > converse… See the full definition ---
**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:** [December 21, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/10 "2010-12-21T18:30:21Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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](http://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. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/11 "2010-12-21T18:49:55Z")
It starts showing up in Google News Archive searches with notable frequency about 1993. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/12 "2010-12-22T11:57:16Z")
This word is uncromulent. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/13 "2010-12-22T12:33:24Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > This word is uncromulent. I think you mean incromulent. Or anti-cromulent. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/14 "2010-12-22T13:14:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 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:: ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/15 "2010-12-22T16:03:23Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/16 "2010-12-22T17:38:12Z")
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. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/17 "2010-12-22T17:47:52Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I think you mean incromulent. Or anti-cromulent. Only in the third decromulension. In the military, it’s non-crom. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/18 "2010-12-22T18:11:01Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/19 "2010-12-22T22:34:43Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > 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_ ---
**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:** [December 22, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932/20 "2010-12-22T23:45:36Z")
> [@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. 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? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversating-since-when-is-this-a-word/564932.md?page=2)