# Names becoming verbs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043 "2011-04-12T02:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/1 "2011-04-12T02:22:15Z")
I was watching “The Fifth Element” for the first time with my family over the weekend, and it took a minute for me to figure out where I’d seen the president before. He played Deebo in “Friday”. His performance was iconic. It feels weird to say that about “Friday”, but there it is. I had just told hubby “I Deebo’d that nice warm jacket you never wear.” And I’m sure I’ve uttered the words “Don’t bogart that joint, man,” at some time. Not many peoples’ or characters’ names get turned into verbs. In fact, those are the only ones I can come up with. Can anyone think of any others? ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/2 "2011-04-12T02:40:00Z")
[Gerrymandering](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering) is named after [Elbridge Gerry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/3 "2011-04-12T03:43:44Z")
I think “Bogart” qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/4 "2011-04-12T03:53:10Z")
mesmerize, galvanize, guillotine, bork and boycott ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/5 "2011-04-12T03:56:38Z")
Burke someone. meaning to purposefully smother and compress the chest of a victim, and a derived meaning, to quietly suppress Comes from serial killers [William Burke and William Hare](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders) ---
**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:** [April 12, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/6 "2011-04-12T04:25:28Z")
As a class, these are known as eponymous verbs. Other examples not mentioned: to lynch to pasteurize to sandwich to silhouette to bowlderize to galvanize ETA: You might also want to add “hoover” (meaning “to vacuum” in British English) to that list. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/7 "2011-04-12T16:56:15Z")
Thanks all. Quite a few here I knew but didn’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/8 "2011-04-12T17:36:43Z")
Thomas Edison tried to popularize the use of “Westinghouse” to refer to [electrocution.](http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventions/a/Electric_Chair.htm) > [@About.com](#): > > On January 1, 1889, the world’s first electrical execution law went into full effect. Westinghouse protested the decision and refused to sell any AC generators directly to prison authorities. Thomas Edison and Harold Brown provided the AC generators needed for the first working electric chairs. George Westinghouse funded the appeals for the first prisoners sentenced to death by electrocution, made on the grounds that “electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment.” Edison and Brown both testified for the state that execution was a quick and painless form of death and the State of New York won the appeals. Ironically, for many years people referred to the process of being electrocuted in the chair as being “Westinghoused”. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/9 "2011-04-12T18:43:17Z")
Want one from another language? You may recall, around 20 years ago, that then-President George H.W. Bush made an official trip to Japan. He’d been ill, the trip didn’t exactly help, and when confronted with Japanese food at the big state dinner, he puked in front of 100+ diplomats and about 8 jillion reporters. Embarrassing, but it happens. As luck would have it, up to that point the Japanese language didn’t have a real specific word for “vomit”. Thereafter, they had one: “Bushu-suru”, roughly translated as “to do a Bush”, entered the Japanese lexicon. A comedian even appeared on TV with a monkey trained to pretend it was vomiting when prompted, “Bushu-suru!” [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush_vomiting_incident) for most of this. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/10 "2011-04-12T19:28:10Z")
Wow, Max, that’s pretty funny. But how can a language not have a word for vomit? I think it’s hilarious that it’s named after one of the Bushes, though. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/11 "2011-04-12T19:29:59Z")
> [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > Wow, Max, that’s pretty funny. But how can a language not have a word for vomit? I think it’s hilarious that it’s named after one of the Bushes, though. Ha! I found more than a few Japanese words for vomit. [http://www.japanese-symbols.org/japanese-symbol-for-to-vomit](http://www.japanese-symbols.org/japanese-symbol-for-to-vomit) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/12 "2011-04-12T19:43:24Z")
Roger. I’ve always wanted to have a character names Roger Roundley. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/13 "2011-04-12T20:05:53Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I found more than a few Japanese words for vomit. > > [http://www.japanese-symbols.org/japanese-symbol-for-to-vomit](http://www.japanese-symbols.org/japanese-symbol-for-to-vomit) Well, that was what another article I’d read years ago claimed. Still, it seems like a lot of the words on that page have more than one meaning, such as “spit out”, “have diarrhea”, or even “breathe”, so they’re not necessarily specific to the act of discharging stomach contents through the mouth. No doubt one of our fluent-Japanese-speaking members will be along shortly to straighten me out… ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/14 "2011-04-12T20:10:12Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Still, it seems like a lot of the words on that page have more than one meaning, such as “spit out”, “have diarrhea”, or even “breathe”, so they’re not necessarily specific to the act of discharging stomach contents through the mouth. Same with “vomit” in English. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vomit](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vomit) Gerogerohaku and ezuku didn’t have more than one meaning. ETA: I didn’t see anything in your cite about Japanese not having a word for ‘vomit’. Were you just citing that Bush Sr. threw up on the then Prime Minister of Japan? ---
**Author:** ![osme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/df788c/32.png) [@osme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/osme)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/15 "2011-04-12T20:16:47Z")
Lewinsky. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/16 "2011-04-12T20:26:59Z")
[Obligatory Calvin & Hobbes link.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I0JyZiMKuh0/R0SsGMbc7qI/AAAAAAAAAEM/wadQnwbHbJ4/s1600-h/verbing-sm-01.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/17 "2011-04-12T20:39:26Z")
“l’d sooner get Munsoned out here in the middle of nowhere than lose face in front of my friends.” ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/18 "2011-04-12T20:41:22Z")
I think his name was Flossin. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/19 "2011-04-12T20:55:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > ETA: You might also want to add “hoover” (meaning “to vacuum” in British English) to that list. I use “hoover” to refer to a different act. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043/20 "2011-04-13T17:51:45Z")
But do we really need a term for “Presiding over a depression?” – Wait. Maybe we do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-becoming-verbs/578043.md?page=2)