英语语法：25 Verbification of a Noun

Grammar Girl here.
 
Today's topic is verbification.

Last week police used a Taser on University of Florida student Andrew Meyer as they struggled to remove him from an auditorium¹ where Senator John Kerry was speaking. The Web has been filled with debates about the politics of the incident, but a few of you have asked about the language of the incident. Is it correct to say Meyer was tased or tasered, or should we hold that Taser is a noun and say Meyer was “zapped by a Taser”?
 
In the heat of the moment, Meyer himself chose tased, shouting, “Don't tase me, bro.” Taser is actually a trademarked name, and the company, Taser International, also prefers tase as the verb. The company website contains multiple instances of phrases like “the subject was tased and incapacitated.” I also called the company and a friendly customer service rep named John confirmed that when they talk about incidents internally, they say someone was “tased.”
 
On the other hand, a Google News search produced about 1,800 hits for tasered and only about 200 hits for tased. So popular opinion is definitely on the side of tasered.
 
I'm surprised by the popularity of tasered. If you use laser as a model for Taser, you should come up with tase as the verb because lase is the verb form of laser (1). Both laser and Taser are acronyms³, so using laser as the model seems like the obvious choice.
 
Also, even though it is an acronym², Taser sounds a lot like a noun that is derived⁴ from a verb. For example, writer is the noun that comes from the verb to write, and singer is the noun that comes from the verb to sing. If people used that model, then the noun Taser would lead to the verb to tase.to tase.
 
Nevertheless, although the Oxford⁵ English Dictionary (OED) does not include verb entries for tase or tasered, it does include an adjective entry for tasered, as in, “This jolt⁶ ... caused him to become ‘Tasered’.”
 
Since Taser is an acronym that stands for “Thomas A. Swift Electronic Rifle” (from the science fiction story Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle (2)), it's possible that people are subconsciously⁷ trying to keep the complete underlying⁸ meaning intact.
 
It's also possible that people are using other weapons as a model for turning Taser into the verb tasered. For example, gun becomes gunned and knife becomes knifed.
 
The “best headline” award goes to CBS affiliate⁹ WSLS in Roanoke, Virginia, for “Tased and Confused,” but even they seem confused because even though they use tased in the headline, they use tasered in the article, thereby¹⁰ violating my first rule for dealing¹¹ with ambiguous language areas, which is to pick a style and be consistent (3).
 
A larger question than whether it should be tased or tasered is whether we should blithely¹² accept the idea that it is OK to turn a noun into a verb in the first place. I've certainly heard from people who find the whole process of verbification outrageous¹³.
 
The first use of "verbification" goes all the way back to 1871, so the process itself isn't new. Other trademarks¹⁴ have effectively become verbs. For example, it's not uncommon¹⁵ to hear people say they “Googled” something when they have conducted a search at the Google website. I've never heard anyone object to the expression “microwaving dinner,” yet according to the OED, the first recorded use of the verb microwave was four years after the first use of the noun microwave. So it looks as if the word started out as a noun and was later turned into a verb.
 
The process of verbification goes even further back than the origin of the word verbify. For example, the noun medal, as in, “He won a medal,” originated in 1578; the verb medal, as in, “He medaled in track,” didn't come around until 1822.
 
The perception seems to be that people are verbifying nouns faster than they used to. And one complaint is that it's lazy writing to verbify words willy-nilly. For example, I was listening to Life Online with Bob Parsons, the GoDaddy CEO's podcast, and he was talking about a reporter who used the word “GoDaddification” to describe how the sexy “Obama Girl” music videos have affected¹⁶ the political landscape. To me, that's an example of a horrible verbification, and I can't imagine it was fueled by anything but laziness. Not only does GoDaddification sound awkward, it also makes the assumption that the reader is familiar with the GoDaddy commercials. Certainly a large number of people know about the racy GoDaddy commercials, but I think it's a leap to assume the entire audience would know what GoDaddification means. It would have been more elegant and universally understandable to say that the Internet generation is using video to sex-up politics or that Internet video has added a racy element to political campaigns.
 
Personally, I don't object to tased because its existence allows reporters to write cleaner sentences. It's much smoother to write, “Police tased the student,” than “Police stunned¹⁷ the student with a Taser,” and if readers know what a Taser is, they'll know what tased means.
 
Verbification has been going on for a long time, and it's part of how language evolves, especially when we're coming up with words for new inventions, like lasers, microwaves, and Web searches. On the other hand, creating verbs like GoDaddification seems outrageous and gratuitous¹⁸ to me. (But then again, maybe that's the point; I keep wondering if I'm just completely missing the joke on that one!)
 
I have more books to give away this week,

This week Brian, Susan, and Ronald win a copy of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing, my award-winning audiobook that is available online and in bookstores on CD. Everyone who signs up for the free newsletter is automatically entered into the book giveaway and also receives a free grammar tip by e-mail every once in a while. That's as regular as our schedule has been so far -- every once in a while.
 
Sign up using the blue button in the sidebar at quickanddirtytips.com,where you can also find a transcript¹⁹ of this podcast, my contact information, and all the other great Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts. This week Legal Lad also did a show about something in the news: he is talking about when it's possible to withdraw a guilty plea.
 
That's all. Thanks for listening.

1 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

2 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

3 acronyms   

n.首字母缩略词( acronym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Scratch the subject of defence and acronyms, abbreviations, and buzzwords fly out. 话题触及国防，缩合字，缩写字和行话就满天飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some acronyms as scientific terminology are used as a lexical item. 一些科学术语缩写用作词汇项目。 来自互联网

4 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

6 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

7 subconsciously   

ad.下意识地，潜意识地

参考例句：

• In choosing a partner we are subconsciously assessing their evolutionary fitness to be a mother of children or father provider and protector. 在选择伴侣的时候，我们会在潜意识里衡量对方将来是否会是称职的母亲或者父亲，是否会是合格的一家之主。
• Lao Yang thought as he subconsciously tightened his grasp on the rifle. 他下意识地攥紧枪把想。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

8 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

9 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

10 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 blithely   

adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地

参考例句：

• They blithely carried on chatting, ignoring the customers who were waiting to be served. 他们继续开心地聊天，将等着购物的顾客们置于一边。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He blithely ignored her protests and went on talking as if all were agreed between them. 对她的抗议他毫不在意地拋诸脑后，只管继续往下说，仿彿他们之间什么都谈妥了似的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 trademarks   

n.（注册）商标( trademark的名词复数 )；（人的行为或衣着的）特征，标记

参考例句：

• Motrin and Nuprin are trademarks of brands of ibuprofen tablets. Nuprin和Motrin均是布洛芬的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many goods in China have the trademarks of a panda. 中国的许多商品都带有熊猫的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

18 gratuitous   

adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的

参考例句：

• His criticism is quite gratuitous.他的批评完全没有根据。
• There's too much crime and gratuitous violence on TV.电视里充斥着犯罪和无端的暴力。

19 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。