# Have you noticed people using "release" as an intransitive verb **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 26, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276 "2016-01-26T17:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/21 "2016-01-26T22:01:03Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > This one has been around at least since the 80s, at least regarding albums. I’m no good at finding the origins of slang terms, though. Maybe \*\*samclem \*\*will come help us. > > [The online slang dictionary’s](http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/drop) entry for “to release an album” was submitted in 2003. Well, I only noticed it recently. I’m well-known for being the last to notice these sorts of things. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/22 "2016-01-26T22:05:04Z")
I have never heard this construction and, yes, I agree it sounds really weird and wrong to my ears. The rest of the examples in this thread sound fine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/23 "2016-01-26T23:03:51Z")
What about “release the hounds”? > [@MrAtoz](#): > > Indeed, “drop” (meaning “to be released to the public”) is the one that puzzles me. I never seemed to hear it until about a year ago, and now it’s everywhere! Trailers drop, albums drop, videos drop. I don’t think novels drop, but maybe I’m just not reading the more hip kind of novels. That’s been a really common term since at least the 90s. ETA: Saw ZipperJJ’s note, doesn’t surprise me that it was used even earlier. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/24 "2016-01-26T23:26:13Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > What about “release the hounds”? That’s being used as a transitive verb (taking a direct object.) ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/25 "2016-01-27T01:46:32Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Indeed, “drop” (meaning “to be released to the public”) is the one that puzzles me. I never seemed to hear it until about a year ago, and now it’s everywhere! Trailers drop, albums drop, videos drop. I don’t think novels drop, but maybe I’m just not reading the more hip kind of novels. This could just be the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/26 "2016-01-27T01:52:07Z")
No, I hadn’t noticed, even though I’ve seen the word used that way many times. This suggests to me that it’s quite a natural turn of phrase, and that it’s probably been around longer than a prescriptivist like you would think. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/27 "2016-01-27T01:54:47Z")
I don’t mind the evolution of language, but I seriously have never seen or heard this usage. Is it really that common? ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/28 "2016-01-27T02:09:52Z")
Doesnt really matter. Ift you could travel a hundred + years into the future, you wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying anyway. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/29 "2016-01-27T02:19:23Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Doesnt really matter. Ift you could travel a hundred + years into the future, you wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying anyway. Sure you would. I bet you have little problem understanding English from 1916. Or 1816. Or 1716. Maybe a couple hundred more and it becomes a bit more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/30 "2016-01-27T02:23:37Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Yeah, I must agree. As much as certain phrases and word usages drive me up a wall, languages evolve. And the rules of English are so contrary and arbitrary and capricious and contradictory to begin with, so it makes little sense to get real worked up over further variations from an inconsistent and little-regarded norm. Not to point a finger at the OP, but another problem is people trying to impose Latin grammar on the English language. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/31 "2016-01-27T02:45:17Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Doesnt really matter. Ift you could travel a hundred + years into the future, you wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying anyway. Mayhaps, but probably not. 100 years can easily be within a single human lifespan. If I traveled _back_ to 1916 I don’t think there would be all that much difficulty with mutual intelligibility as long as I avoided using copious amounts of slang and tech terms, of course. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/32 "2016-01-27T04:44:02Z")
ugh I should have known half the responses from the SDMB would be calling me out for prescriptivism let me rephrase Have you noticed this usage of “release” and does it sound new or different or unusual (but not right or wrong) to you? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/33 "2016-01-27T12:08:11Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Doesnt really matter. Ift you could travel a hundred + years into the future, you wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying anyway. Even if you couldn’t totally understand them, you’d _know_ they were talking about your weird clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/34 "2016-01-27T12:35:37Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Have you noticed this usage of “release” and does it sound new or different or unusual (but not right or wrong) to you? Release used in this way sounds pretty normal to my ears. It’s pretty common to hear “This product will GA in three weeks” where GA is General Availability, or “This product will RTO on …” where RTO is Release to Operations. In the software industry its just so commonplace that no one here would even notice it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/35 "2016-01-27T12:38:28Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Doesnt really matter. Ift you could travel a hundred + years into the future, you wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying anyway. I dunno. We seem to do OK with the Elizabethan English in the works of Shakespeare, for example. Some of the outdated vocabulary and allusions require footnotes, but in an actual conversation (which would likely use far less poetic imagery) you could probably muddle through just fine. Shakespeare died 400 years ago. I see no reason why 400 years from now we wouldn’t be able to muddle through just as well. On the other hand, future people might have a lot more trouble with Shakespeare than we, given the span for them is 800 years. On the third hand, Jean-Luc Picard seemed to handle it pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/36 "2016-01-27T13:24:57Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > ugh I should have known half the responses from the SDMB would be calling me out for prescriptivism > let me rephrase > Have you noticed this usage of “release” and does it sound new or different or unusual (but not right or wrong) to you? Yeah, I apologize for starting that diversion…its my own pet peeve.😃 To answer your question. No I don’t find that use of ‘release’ to be weird unusual, or different. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/37 "2016-01-27T13:47:16Z")
To me, it smacks of marketing-speak. I’d never use it myself. I don’t consider it _wrong_ per se, but it’s grating in the same way that other marketing buzzwords are. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/38 "2016-01-27T14:46:25Z")
I have a different take on it. I think it is an example of verbing the noun “release”. And it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Yes, we understand the language of 1916 just fine. But would they understand us? A couple decades I read Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backwards a story of a man who time-travelled to 2000 and then came back to the late 19th century and reported on what he found. The language he quoted the year 2000 people as using sounded laughably archaic. Oddly enough, the language of the book itself didn’t seem so dated. Or maybe it is just a difference in expectation. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/39 "2016-01-27T15:02:16Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Yeah, I must agree. As much as certain phrases and word usages drive me up a wall, languages evolve. And the rules of English are so contrary and arbitrary and capricious and contradictory to begin with, so it makes little sense to get real worked up over further variations from an inconsistent and little-regarded norm. You say that as if other languages’ gramnnars werr any less so. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276/40 "2016-01-27T15:31:25Z")
Ok, in what context are you guys hearing or reading this? General conversation/message boards/day-to-day speech? Niche magazines about the game or entertainment industry? General news? I’m still trying to figure out how I’ve never heard or seen this usage. Judging by the responses here, it does seem to be common, but where? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-people-using-release-as-an-intransitive-verb/744276.md?page=3)