No Comment ... or, Shifting the Language Around

Okay, I'll admit that it's easier to say "re-gifting" than "taking something someone has given me that I really don't want and giving it to someone else." But there are other newish words that disagree with me.  And "gifting" is one of them.  To my ears, it sounds phony.  What's the matter with "giving a gift."

Then there's "to table" meaning "to sit at a table."  "They will be tabling on Friday ... join them in the store for conversation."  Huh?

And "source" has become a verb meaning "to locate."  "High quality fruit they carefully source."

And the term, "to partner with someone."  I never heard that until maybe 30 years ago.  We used to talk about becoming one's partner.  Or taking a partner.  

"The big reveal."  A "disconnect."  I guess verbs are often turned into nouns.  So it seems "revelation" has turned into "reveal."  And "disconnection" into "disconnect."

He said "lude things."  I saw that written in the media by someone who couldn't spell "lewd."  Spell check just now wanted to change it to "dude."

And I also saw, "I was pretty discussed."  Think he meant "disgusted"?

Then there's one I've been wondering about for some time ... and that is "attitude."  "He's got attitude," is something you hear a lot.  It used to be that "attitude" required an adjective.  "He's got a lousy attitude," that sort of thing.  Now it seems to stand on its own.

Of course, there's the p.c. switching off of gender nouns.  "Postman" turned into "carrier" long ago.  Are there any "postmistresses" any more?  Probably not, but it's a lovely word and very precise in its meaning. "Chairman," of course, became "chair" or "chair person." Then there's that annual ceremony where they give out awards to the best female actor.  Secret whisper here: there's a great word for that:  it's "actress."  "Waitress" is gone and so is "stewardess."  And certainly "aviatrix" seems dark-ages old fashioned.  As does "shepherdess."  Are "hero and heroine" still used?  At least we do still speak of "prince and princess."  (We don't yet talk about Female Prince Diana.)

Then I recently saw this written out:  "per say" for "per se."  And "Whose behind it" ... whose behind, indeed!  (That made me laugh.)  And "Who say's."  And "her's."  And "People's castle's and chariot's."  And "Regardless of who get's put in office."  And "Your in the middle of a baking project when you realize you have no eggs."

And then there's that habit I've mentioned before of putting "I" and "me" in the wrong places, as in this, from HGTV:  "It has two separate bedrooms for Dave and I." As I wrote many postings ago, such speech is, to quote a New Yorker copywriter, "One of the most barbaric habits in contemporary usage."

"Weed it and reap" as someone I know used to say.