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Original poster

Gift is a noun not a verb

55 replies

NeedMorePlasters · 06/12/2024 23:56

I gifted

I was gifted

Nobody gives anybody anything these days. It's all about gifting.

Why is this a thing now? It's such insta-speak. I know language evolves etc but this really grated on my nerves for some reason.

IMO gifted means talented. Anyone else agree?

OP posts:
LisaJohnsonsFacebookMole · 07/12/2024 00:18

Not anymore! Language changes. In fact, you could say language is the gift that keeps gifting 😄soz* if I made you wince.

*Also soz for the use of soz.

MumChp · 07/12/2024 01:45

transitive verb

KittenPause · 07/12/2024 01:45

Don't care

FictionalCharacter · 07/12/2024 01:47

Yep. “Gifting” is another language trend imported from the US.

HollyGolightly4 · 07/12/2024 01:50

Noun or verb- depends how you use it. Also, dual meaning.

A quick Google of the etymology tells you it's from Old Norse gipt; related to give. Suggests it isn't really insta speak..

I do understand phrases grating on you though- Maybe phrase it as that, rather than arguing about the word class and it 'being a thing' now!

SoMentallyDrained · 07/12/2024 01:57

Agreed OP

KittenPause · 07/12/2024 01:59

To gift is a verb

A gift is a noun

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 07/12/2024 01:59

Disagree.

In my 50s and it's been in use as far back as I can remember.

Common to describe an individuals as being "gifted" if they have a talent, aptitude, or virtue, and also common to hear someone described as being "gifted their talent by the gods/ a god-gifted talent" and so on. It's no different to "blessed".

KittenPause · 07/12/2024 02:00

It's been a verb and a noun for a few centuries now in the UK

InWalksBarberalla · 07/12/2024 02:01

Gift as a verb has been around for 400 years or so. Which OP is actually before instagram.

FelixtheAardvark · 07/12/2024 02:11

I agree OP. It wasn't used as a verb when I was growing up (60s and 70s).

VegTrug · 07/12/2024 02:25

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 07/12/2024 01:59

Disagree.

In my 50s and it's been in use as far back as I can remember.

Common to describe an individuals as being "gifted" if they have a talent, aptitude, or virtue, and also common to hear someone described as being "gifted their talent by the gods/ a god-gifted talent" and so on. It's no different to "blessed".

Edited

I think you’ve misunderstood

Greenfinch7 · 07/12/2024 02:35

I agree OP, and I am American!!!

I think 'gift' as a verb has a particular legal meaning, which makes it more lazy-sloppy-pretentious when people use it in the way you mention. (I quickly googled, and it seems to be something to do with bequeathing land and avoiding taxes or something like that.)

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 07/12/2024 02:49

VegTrug · 07/12/2024 02:25

I think you’ve misunderstood

Show quote history

No.

OP is complaining about the noun "gift" being used as a verb, in reality it has also been used in verb form for centuries.

I've given an example the verb state existing and being used as far back as I can remember, decades before "insta" had any impact whatsoever on influencing language. The only difference is in my examples the verb is the past-participle form. Still a verb though.

The point about "blessed" is that "gifted" is used as a synonym and has been for centuries, not that it's a noun turned into a verb by the insta generation.

"That/It is not within my gift" is also common.

Garlicwest · 07/12/2024 03:30

You are intensely missing the point, @XDownwiththissortofthingX. OP even says "gifted means talented". What she's complaining about is the recent accession of gift as an alternative to give. People don't say they were given socks for Christmas, they say they were gifted socks,

When people say they were gifted socks, they don't mean they identified as exceptionally talented socks 😂

Bjorkdidit · 07/12/2024 05:12

I'm more annoyed about how people are using incredible or phenomenal as a synonym for 'quite nice'.

I've learned to stop trekking off to see 'incredible' views or find a 'phenomenal' cheese selection in a supermarket only to find it was nice but in no way ground breaking.

KittenPause · 07/12/2024 05:23

I hate it when literally is used instead of metaphorically when the person is not doing the actual thing

Garlicwest · 07/12/2024 05:27

That's literally the worst thing, @KittenPause, it's incredibly triggering!
😜

(The above should be read with heavy vocal fry and a rising inflexion.)

peekaboopumpkin · 07/12/2024 05:28

I suppose you don't like being handed anything either, since hand is a noun not a verb. As far as I can tell, gifted was in use as a verb a couple of centuries before handed was.

Nolegusta · 07/12/2024 05:37

AFAIK gift can be used as a verb as well as a noun.

Garlicwest · 07/12/2024 05:37

Bugger. The OED cites: The friendes that were together met he gyfted them richely 16th century.

I still don't like it.

Nolegusta · 07/12/2024 05:38

FictionalCharacter · 07/12/2024 01:47

Yep. “Gifting” is another language trend imported from the US.

No, it isn't.

Nolegusta · 07/12/2024 05:41

Just an aside, think twice before accepting a gift from a German native speaker....gift means something quite different in German. ☠️☠️☠️

Snorlaxo · 07/12/2024 07:08

I think that the internet has changed the English language and it’s not a bad thing. I suspect that there are people from places like US and Australia who also wonder where and when certain expressions started being the norm.

I sympathise with OTT or inexplicably annoying language on places like Insta though.

CurlewKate · 07/12/2024 07:20

So is snack!