On the verbing of nouns and other crimes against erudition

[mcroft]

The Chicago Sun-Times has steadily efforted to chip away at the pedestal on which supporters and the media have placed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), the perch from which he happily mulls a run for the White House.

--TPM Muckraker

Dear TPM Muckraker,
Regardless of the substance of the comment you make or the substance of the efforts by the Chicago Sun-Times, the above sentence is a dreadful mess. Please substitute a more reputable verb, consider the advantages of using more than one sentence, and don't needlessly mix the perch/pedestal metaphors.

No love,
Me

Comments

[la-directora.livejournal.com]

That sentence makes the Baby Jesus cry. And on the day after his (now celebrated) birthday, too. Shameful.

[la-directora.livejournal.com]

Heh. I just saw your comment on the post. Conan the Grammarian. That's awesome.

[uniforall.livejournal.com]

I am currently reading a Stephen King novel, and it's looking increasingly like the reason I'm continuing to do that is so I can find new ways to taunt my boyfriend for having liked the thing. It is Wizard and Glass and it contains this sentence which reduced me to hysterics for a couple of minutes:

"A summer spent dead in the sun and rain and heat (not to mention at the mercy of any stray cats, coons, or woodchucks that might be passing) had given the toddler a look of ancient wisdom and mystery, like a child mummy discovered in an Incan pyramid."

I will never look at a woodchuck the same way again. Apparently they are known to gnaw lines of wisdom into the faces of dead toddlers ... possibly confusing their dessicated corpses with wood.

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the woodchuck was marking its territory on the corpse.

[badnewswade.livejournal.com]

Hey congrats! If you type "verbing of nouns" into Wikipedia this entry comes up in fifth place!

The verbing of nouns really pisses me off. Recently I was talking to a councellor and she said she could "signpost me to the resources I was looking for". WTF?!?! I don't want to be "signposted"!!! HEEELP! Who the hell invented this moronic 1984 office speek? Does someone sit around composing it or do they make it up on their own?

There needs to be some kind of campaign against this kind of crap. Isn't there some society that promotes the proper use of the English language?