Nouns as verbs: As much as my linguist's heart tells me you can't stop change, there are a few usages I've heard recently that really rub me the wrong way. One is the title used for an annual ling-and-lit conference called something like 'languaging' (ugh!); the other a Kinko's 'ad' on public radio that goes like this: 'Kinko's -- the new way to office' or some such. Double ugh! I guess I like down-home usages that THE PEOPLE (whoever they are) come up with, but inventions by those trying to be clever don't always catch fire with me. These are just a few of my personal peeves. There are other nouns-as-verbs that I like. I hope you've all seen the Calvin cartoon on this: a walk in the snow; Calvin says to Hobbes: I like to verb words. H: What? Frame 2: C: I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when 'access' was a thing? Now it's something you do. It got verbed. Frame 3: (as they move on through the snow) C: Verbing weirds language. H: Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. 'Access' as a verb is one that I like. Johanna ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: [log in to unmask] ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~