# Non-judgemental questions about "Americanism" TO GIFT **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2009, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825 "2009-04-12T09:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/21 "2009-04-12T16:59:05Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Perhaps the OP is referring to the way some English speakers brazenly use nouns as verbs. “Gifted”, “architected”, “mothballed”, “leveraged”… there are countless examples. > > And perhaps American English speakers are more comfortable with this practice of converting nouns to verbs than British English speakers? It certainly seems like a lot of them originate in American business speak. Heh - those all sound perfectly natural to me except ‘architecting’, and I majored in architecture. To be fair, ‘leveraged’ to me is a very specific economic term, and I’ve only ever heard ‘mothballed’ in the context of city-builder games (used to indicate a temporary shutdown of a building or industry). And, as noted, gifted is pretty much strictly written. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/22 "2009-04-12T17:17:44Z")
> [@Varrius](#): > > The only time I’m familiar with the use as a verb would be to \*\*re-\*\*gift something. (Not condoning the practice, that would be for another thread.) I suspect that this is exactly where the usage came from- after all, if I can re-gift that ugly picture frame to my sister-in-law, someone must have gifted it to me. I wonder when we’ll start seeing “purpose” as a verb. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/23 "2009-04-12T18:01:32Z")
Newspaper headlines and captions are notorious for either slightly abusing words or using words that you might not always use in real conversations. “Gifted” is much shorter than “gave as a gift” and yet carries the full meaning to the reader. When everything you write has to fit within a certain number of column-inches, you take shortcuts where you can. I do sometimes use “gifted” in conversation, but I’m at least partly influenced by all the tax law I read. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/24 "2009-04-12T18:08:48Z")
There’s nothing particularly American about turning nouns into verbs. It occurs in British English just as much. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/25 "2009-04-12T18:16:38Z")
I did not intend that as a criticism of American English. You might say that American English speakers are quicker to adopt new forms than British English speakers. It certainly does happen in British English, but I’m not sure that it happens “just as much”. I think we import a lot of these new verbal forms from America. The likes of “leveraged” and “architected” are American in origin. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/26 "2009-04-12T18:32:50Z")
I’m pretty sure I remember [Strunk&White](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strunk_and_white) being against the usage of gift as a verb. Since I think it’s probably the best English “style” guide I would consider “gifted” (as a verb) to be sloppy. I can’t find my battered copy to verify, I should probably get a new one. Great book, if only for the most genius example of why writing style matters: “Soulwise, these are trying times.” The original quote is left as an exercise for the reader 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/27 "2009-04-12T18:44:28Z")
I didn’t take it as a criticism of American English. I don’t know of any evidence that American English is more accepting of turning nouns into verbs than British English is. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/28 "2009-04-12T18:46:32Z")
There are those who think that Strunk and White is a terrible style guide: [http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i32/32b01501.htm](http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i32/32b01501.htm) ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/29 "2009-04-12T20:33:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There are those who think that Strunk and White is a terrible style guide: > > [http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i32/32b01501.htm](http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i32/32b01501.htm) That criticism seems more to be complaining that it’s a terrible grammar guide. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible, just not very good for grammar. The context in when Strunk first would have written the thing matters - he was writing for undergrads in the first half of the 20th century. Back then one could probably assume that any college undergrad had had the rules of english grammar hammered hard into her in her K-12 education. So a “grammar” book would probably not be needed, a style guide would. Things have changed - I didn’t get a proper formalized grammar lesson until I was in 11th grade. Teaching styles have changed. The only grammar I got up until then was an admonition when I had seriously broken a grammar rule, and I sort of pieced together what little I know of grammar from that and a lot of reading. So a criticism of the book as a poor grammar guide is entirely valid but it misses the main goal of the book, which is as a style guide. But now I’m way off the OP, so I’ll drop it. I can understand criticism of Elements, but I still think it’s a valuable read. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/30 "2009-04-12T21:19:29Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Is “judgemental” an alternate spelling for Brits? :smack: No it’s the sort of careless error I predicted after saying I was an EFL teacher, see line 2 of my OP Many thanks to all who have replied - in Europe we can fall into a trap of hearing “media” or “business” English from American sources and assume that they are more widespread or welcomed than they actually are and it’s good for me to get the fuller picture. The legal aspect is also very useful. > [@](#): > > Perhaps the OP is referring to the way some English speakers brazenly use nouns as verbs. “Gifted”, “architected”, “mothballed”, “leveraged”… there are countless examples. Actually no **Ximenean** , I just wanted to know when a person would say “gift” rather than “give” 😉 Mind you I am fascinated as to why we’re busy verbing some nouns yet abandon other ones as old fashioned eg I lunched with John versus I had lunch with John I’m glad to see others suggest it may be an erroneous back-formation from re-gift as the thought had occurred to me. Oh and **Reply**? For addicting I heard the word used on radio and questioned it, my female twenty-something bay area Californian cousin gave the explanation on the spot. I have had her idea independently confirmed by another female twenty-something Californian from LA who was in Europe training to be a teacher. Now to be fair I’ve also had twenty-something Americans from elsewhere in the States who share your opinion so the jury’s still out. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/31 "2009-04-12T21:20:38Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I"Gift" as a verb strikes me as a damned uneuphonious neologism. MW11 begs to disagree with you, at least about the neologism part: > [@Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary](#): > > Main Entry: 2gift > Function: transitive verb > Date: circa 1550 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/32 "2009-04-12T22:20:41Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Perhaps the OP is referring to the way some English speakers brazenly use nouns as verbs. “Gifted”, “architected”, “mothballed”, “leveraged”… there are countless examples. > > And perhaps American English speakers are more comfortable with this practice of converting nouns to verbs than British English speakers? It certainly seems like a lot of them originate in American business speak. All English speakers brazenly use nouns as verbs, every day, without batting an eyelid. Paint a room, heat your dinner, butter some bread, book a ticket, paper over the cracks, skin an animal, knife someone in the heart, table a motion, sum the series, influence a decision, etc., etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/33 "2009-04-12T22:48:03Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > MW11 begs to disagree with you, at least about the neologism part: Those demned Tewdwrs! Alway tampering with Ye Olde English Language. forsooth! 😛 ---
**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:** [April 13, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825/34 "2009-04-13T01:29:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Gifted sounds retarded. What’s wrong with “presented”? Because that’s what I have always heard and used. It’s a seperate meaning. When Sean Penn was presented with the Best Actor Oscar, it wasn’t being gifted to him by Michael Douglas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-judgemental-questions-about-americanism-to-gift/492825.md?page=1)