October 22, 2004
SAINTING MOOTED
Yahoo news headline:
Russian may saint soldier killed in Chechnya
"Saint" is now a verb?
Posted by Tim Blair at October 22, 2004 01:48 PMHas been a verb forever, colloquially.
"My sainted aunt!" is an old schoolboy Englishism freely translatable as "my F***ing a*se!" in modern English
Posted by: Chris at October 22, 2004 at 01:56 PMThe "sainted" in "my sainted aunt" isn't a verb, though. It's an adjective.
When Thomas More was canonized the Evening Standard had the headline “Chelsea Man Made Saint”.
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 02:12 PMHey, give 'em a break! They're Russians. They haven't had much experience with that God thing for the last sixty or so years.
Posted by: Rebecca at October 22, 2004 at 02:17 PMSpeaking of pink slips, the Saint Bernards got theirs.
Posted by: Donnah at October 22, 2004 at 02:20 PMBy the way, Donnah, "verb" isn't a verb either- it's a noun. "Noun" is also a noun.
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 02:21 PMI expect to see this one in the Daily Telegraph soon: "Pope saints Aussie social worker", when Mary McKillop gets hers.
Posted by: freddyboy at October 22, 2004 at 02:27 PM"Herod" can be a verb, cf. Hamlet: "It out-Herods Herod."
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 02:32 PMDid you know that the Bantu languages of southern Africa have no verbs?
That's bollocks. I just made it up.
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 02:34 PM"Out-Herod" is the verb, actually.
Xerox is a verb, though.
well if Harrods can be a verb.
"She Harroded all day and zapped my amex."
OR "Fisked that news report"
or the expression "Sainted Blair!" when one discovers a dastardly deed of the journalistic left.
What about I'f rather rather than let true facts dictate my opinion
tr.v. saint·ed, saint·ing, saints
To name, recognize, or venerate as a saint; canonize.
Posted by: GoodFace at October 22, 2004 at 02:43 PMI have a lovely list of "nouns that became verbs", Harry. I keep it tucked under my pillow, hoping the Parts of Speech Fairy will leave me a dime.
Posted by: Donnah at October 22, 2004 at 02:43 PMPhil, a lot of nouns can be verbed -to knife, to shampoo, to fist- but all? To motorway? To goat?
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 05:21 PMIf you were stuck on a desert island and were allowed just one verb, which verb would you choose, and why?
I sent this idea in to Radio 4 -Desert Island Verb- but they rejected it, the fucking philistines.
Posted by: Harry Hutton at October 22, 2004 at 05:22 PMJohnny Wishbone,
Yes verbs can be nouned. Most common example: "a good read".
Russian may saint soldier killed in Chechnya
In following news:
Russians to martyr Chechen terrorists.
Posted by: Andjam at October 22, 2004 at 05:39 PMHarry is a proper noun.
Xerox is a proper noun, and xerox is a verb.
noun = name
verb = doing-word
don't start me on apostrophes and the letter s!
Posted by: kae at October 22, 2004 at 06:12 PMI just phoned the Asylum to warn them the inmates have got into the computer room
Posted by: graboy at October 22, 2004 at 06:28 PMAnd when Queen Elizabeth retires / kicks off, we can watch Charles be coronated.
(Or maybe not.)
Posted by: F451 at October 22, 2004 at 10:09 PM"If you were stuck on a desert island and were allowed just one verb, which verb would you choose, and why?"
rescue
Posted by: monkeyboy at October 22, 2004 at 11:14 PMHarry --
Sure, any noun. Some of them sillier than others, of course, but consider "to Bogart". Or "Fisk". You usually won't see a noun get verbed where a better verb already exists (so motorway isn't a likely candidate, since I can already drive, motor, etc.), but I think I'll start working on introducing "to goat" into the American Baseball lexicon immediately. The Reds sure goated the Cubs this year. Last year, Steve Bartman really goated Moises Alou and the Cubs.
Monkeyboy, nice one.
Jon Stewart was quoted at a college commencement saying, "We declared war on terror -- it's not even a noun, so, good luck."
Except that it is, Mr. Smarty-pants.
"King" can be a verb, too, as in checkers (or draughts, or whatever you commonwealth folks call it).
I look forward to the day when "Fisk" becomes a come-on line between bloggers.
"Hey honey, let's go to bed and you can give me a good Fisking."
Posted by: TimT at October 23, 2004 at 01:23 PMI had a cousin who goated one time.
As he explained to the police, "Honest, officer, she got stuck crossing the fence!"
He doesn't come to the family reunions any more.
Posted by: N. O'Brain at October 23, 2004 at 02:29 PMThe OED's first citation for the transitive verb "saint" is from 1375:
"This thomas, That on this vis maid marir was, Wes sactit and myraclis did."
So this doesn't seem to be a case of a noun becoming a verb; instead, it's an old sense of a verb in the process of becoming obsolete -- the transitive "canonizing" meaning of "saint" doesn't come up very often, so fewer and fewer people are familiar with it.
Posted by: The Tensor at October 23, 2004 at 05:04 PM"Russian may canonize soldier killed in Chechnya"....is more ambiguous than 'saint' as the verb...it could mean shooting the poor bugger's body out of a cannon!
Posted by: lgude at October 24, 2004 at 03:51 AM