Re: I crash into religion
Simon Brooke wrote:
> in message <dp3bg.3840$G95.1042@tornado.socal.rr.com>, Sorni
> ('soryousucknyoureallyreallysucki@san.rr.com') wrote:
>
> > So someone, say, whose house has been burglarized 4 times in the last
> > 18 months
>
> Oh, for heaven's sake, I know this group is not the right place for
> grammar flames, but what is this nonsense of turning a verb into a noun
> and back into a verb again all about?
>
> There is a verb to burgle. Consequently, someone who burgles is a
> burglar, just as someone who walks is a walker, someone who runs is a
> runner, someone who reads is a reader. When you walk down to the shops
> in the morning, has the distance been 'walkerized'? When you've finished
> reading this post, has the post been 'readerized'?
>
> Obviously not. A distance that's been walked has been walked. A post
> that's been read has been read. And a house that's been burgled has been
> burgled. It's a simple, ordinary English verb, and the simple ordinary
> rules of English verbs apply.
>
> I expect you use 'utilize', as well.
>
> --
> simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
>
> The Conservative Party is now dead. The corpse may still be
> twitching, but resurrection is not an option - unless Satan
> chucks them out of Hell as too objectionable even for him.
Dear Simon,
"We would wish to remark to the imaginative reporter that his constant
use of the verb "to burglarize," in its various moods and tenses, may
in time become wearisome to the strictly etymological mind. It was
doubtless superhumanly funny when first invented, but its persistent
introduction into grave composition may possibly subject the American
press to aspersion and derision abroad, where the ways that are dark of
our native humor are not clearly understood. We can only suggest to
publishers that any reporter adjudged guilty of writing it should be
instantly exterminated by some one of the processes made popular by the
gentle Apache--ripping open with an iron garden-rake, for example."
--from a 7-page sample of a complete newspaper column, "News Letter,"
March 18th, 1871, in "The Ambrose Bierce Satanic Reader," edited by
Jerome Hopkins
Like most grammatical quibbling, Bierce's enjoyable little piece is
full of unconscious examples of what it complains about.
But it should cheer you up to see that your quibble is at least 135
years old.
I look forward to your exegesis on whether a shiny metal object has
been simoned, simonised, or simonized.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
