# I pit "service" as a verb **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072 "2014-01-17T16:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/1 "2014-01-17T16:38:48Z")
Excuse me, subway system operators and the like, but “service” is a noun, not a verb. A train does not “service” a station, it’s “serves.” And you also don’t seem to know that using “service” as a verb has strong sexual and prostitution connotations. While I’m at it, you don’t “gift” something, you give it. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/2 "2014-01-17T16:44:10Z")
Sorry, but the mechanic services my car and the Geek Squad services my computer. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/3 "2014-01-17T16:48:55Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Sorry, but the mechanic services my car and the Geek Squad services my computer. Eww. Is that even legal? And which port does the Geek Squad guy use? Did he give it a sexually transmitted computer virus? ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/4 "2014-01-17T16:55:21Z")
Maybe if I serviced you, you would like it as a verb more? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/5 "2014-01-17T16:56:49Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > Maybe if I serviced you, you would like it as a verb more? Baby, I would verb the hell out of you. I’d verb you all night until you couldn’t verb any more. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/6 "2014-01-17T16:57:37Z")
From the OED "1. trans. To be of service to; to serve; to provide with a service. 1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xvi. 178 If I am to service ye the way that you propose, I’ll lose my lifelihood. 1948 J. Steinbeck Russ. Jrnl. (1949) 15 Airports are so far from the cities they supposedly service. 1955 News of North (Yellowknife, N.W.T.) 18 Nov. 1/5 A new town house, available to water and sewer service, would be assessed at a much higher rate than duplicate property in a part of the town not serviced this way. 1969 D. Widgery in A. Cockburn & R. Blackburn Student Power 139 It is unlikely that a radical Executive would be able to…service the entirely different attitude of the apolitical small colleges. 1974 R. Adams Shardik lviii. 518 How many permanent camps or staging-forts would be needed to service a regular trade-route?" The idea of service as referring to sexual acts slides in at definition #4. ---
**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 17, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/7 "2014-01-17T17:03:36Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > While I’m at it, you don’t “gift” something, you give it. “Gifting” and “giving” don’t mean exactly the same thing, though (plus its use as a verb dates back to the 16th century, so you’re a bit late.) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/8 "2014-01-17T17:35:22Z")
Perhaps after we’re done servicing you, we can fellowship for a while. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/9 "2014-01-17T18:33:32Z")
I blame TV newscasters and politicians. They desperately look for new ways to say the same things they’ve said hundreds of times before. So they find a noun that they think sounds “synergistic” as a verb… and then they utility it until it vocubularies the viewing public. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/10 "2014-01-18T09:15:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Gifting” and “giving” don’t mean exactly the same thing, though (plus its use as a verb dates back to the 16th century, so you’re a bit late.) They may not mean exactly the same thing but I can’t think of a context where “gifting” would be correct but not “giving”. I mean, if I give you a cake for your birthday, you have received a free cake for which nothing is expected in return. “Gifting” you the cake makes it sound like the presentation of that cake is made on behalf of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation’s Marketing and HR Departments\*. \*Share and Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/11 "2014-01-18T12:39:23Z")
Words don’t have inherent class, they’re granted class syntactically. Stop being a snob. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/12 "2014-01-18T12:59:21Z")
Go service yourself. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/13 "2014-01-18T16:21:54Z")
Irregardless of how unique this phenomenon is, I refuse to just stop using “service” as a verb. ---
**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 18, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/14 "2014-01-18T17:58:41Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Sorry, but the mechanic services my car and the Geek Squad services my computer. I agree. It would sound silly to say a mechanic serves a car. Service is the correct word when you’re talking about an inanimate object like a car, a computer, or a train station. ---
**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 18, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/15 "2014-01-18T17:59:41Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Perhaps after we’re done servicing you, we can fellowship for a while. But you have to pay extra. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/16 "2014-01-18T18:04:19Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > A train does not “service” a station, it’s “serves.” The long, powerful train plunging into the willing station … “service” fits that usage just fine. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/17 "2014-01-18T18:15:31Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Go service yourself. I prefer, “Be fruitful and multiply yourself” ---
**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 18, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/18 "2014-01-18T18:16:20Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > They may not mean exactly the same thing but I can’t think of a context where “gifting” would be correct but not “giving”. “Gift” provides more information than “give.” Besides the spiritual use of the term (like in “he was gifted by the holy spirit” where “give” doesn’t quite work), “gift” also connotes that, well, it’s a gift and return is not expected, whereas “give” does not definitively impart that information. It’s not a verb I use often myself, but if ambiguity of whether something is intended to be a gift or not is important to clarify, then I can see use of the verb “gift.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/19 "2014-01-18T18:32:01Z")
If “service” isn’t a polite word for “fucking”, then how do you explain all the “Customer Service” departments we’ve had to deal with? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072/20 "2014-01-18T20:53:39Z")
Ah, I love these pit threads, where someone pits the usage of word they don’t like, claiming it to be incorrect, then inevitably it’s shown to be a common usage for over a hundred years. They next steps are usually the following: 1. OP claims the dictionary is just throwing a bone to common yet incorrect usage 2. It is pointed out that there is no real correct or incorrect usage, and the dictionary merely describes usage. 3. the OP ignores 2), and/or repeats 1) in some manner, then abandons the thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-service-as-a-verb/679072.md?page=2)