...to be driven mad by the use of 'gift' as a verb?

[Rainatnight]

It's not a verb. Gifting something sounds weird. You gave someone a present. Or they gave you one.

Where did this terrible trend come from? Who gifted it to us?!

[splendide]

To lock" is a perfectly normal modern day term. (and is present in the OED)

As is "To gift". Both started out as nouns.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

I wonder if the roots are in some legalese somewhere?

Yes- you are spot on there. I saw the thread and agreed with the OP that it is nonsense. Saw your post and penny dropped that yes" I use it in the very precise way you identified but only in the sort of situations you identified.

Gift as a verb is succinct and precise in its meaning. Nothing wrong with it at all. To convey the same mean as 'He gifted' you'd have to say, ' He gave this as a gift' - much more wordy

I really don't think that stacks up in the real world-particularly when it is used for situations when it is patently obvious that it is some one giving a present.

As an aside does the tautology our free gift to you still exist in marketing- speak?

[WhyteKnyght]

Re confusion between types of giving, there are other way of clarifying that what was given was not a gift too. "I lent my friend some baby clothes" would do the job.

On the subject of wanky emails from businesses, I am going to throttle Virgin East Coast soon. Since their marketing overhaul it's all faux-chirpy, overly-familiar messages with terrible grammar. "Whyte, You're Good to Go!" in confirmation emails etc. What's wrong with "Dear Mrs Knyght, thank you for your booking. Please find your booking confirmation and travel details below". Don't get me started on the time their website massively cocked up in the middle of a booking and, instead of a simple error message with apology, it simply proclaimed: "AWKWARD!" It pisses me off every time, and I always think it must be so off-putting to elderly people.

[LurkingHusband]

I lock my door. I don't fasten the lock on my door.

But you do ...

[HiJenny35]

Love it all, love the fact that language evolves, that new words develop and that we start to use words in different ways. Possibly more important things to be worried about.

[BeyondThePage]

I lock my door. I don't fasten the lock on my door. "To lock" is a perfectly normal modern day term. (and is present in the OED)

[LurkingHusband]

And lock - don't make lock into a verb. It's a noun and you should say "to fasten a lock"

As a rule, languages tend towards efficiency. Why use 3 words when one will do ? So lock it is, and lock it stays ...

[MongerTruffle]

Sorry, they had different connotations to now.

[LurkingHusband]

'it's not within my gift to give...'.

Isn't that form used (somewhere) in the King James Bible ???

(One of Melvyn Braggs "10 books that changed the world")

[splendide]

And lock - don't make lock into a verb. It's a noun and you should say "to fasten a lock".

[Slarti]

OP, I take it you never phone anyone (or ring them, if you prefer). English has a long history of verbification (I don't know if that's a word but it ought to be), so I don't really have a problem with it. Other examples are to hoover, to text/message, to Google and all the more ancient ones mentioned above. They get the message across quite well really.

[G1raffe]

My pet hate is "needs gone" "needs fixed " there's a whole host if them on mn and I've forgotten all of them....

[PeterBlue]

Isn't "gift" as a verb a legal term?
"Gotten" instead of "got" is the one that pisses me off, but I gather that's Elizabethan English preserved in the US.

[ArcheryAnnie]

I hate gifted, too. It sounds like someone trying to be posh.

[MongerTruffle]

Yes, language changes.
"Terrific" and "awful" used to have negative connotations.

[PickleFish]

yeah I hate parent as a verb too.

I don't care whether it's co-worker or colleague, but I do hate being told in a shop to 'ask a colleague' (for help/information, etc). My relationship with them is not colleague/colleague; it is customer/salesperson. MY colleagues know nothing about the lamps you are trying to sell me...

[winefortea]

I don't have a problem with the use of gift as a verb, but I do really dislike the phrase 'it's not within my gift to give...'.
I don't know why it irritates me so much - the only reason I can think of was that the first time I heard it used was by an utter nobber!

[SilverySurfer]

YABU - it can be a verb and it's not a recent thing. According to this link grammarist.com/usage/gift/ it has been in use since the 17th Century.

[LurkingHusband]

I thought it was a "Bristishism".

britishisms.wordpress.com/

Enjoy !

[Andylion]

I don't think I, (a Canadian), ever heard "gift" instead of "give" until I joined MN. I thought it was a "Bristishism".

[intimeandspace]

It's all about the creeping Americanisation of English, spread via US corporates amongst other culprits. How about "super"? It used to be a synonym for "spiffing", " top hole" etc, and now it's just an amplifier for any bugger of a word- super-productive, super-nourishing. Gets my dander up.

[BobbinThreadbare123]

How about 'invite' instead of 'invitation'?

That one drives me mad because it seems to come from laziness!

I'm ok with language changing and evolving, but not at the expense of understanding and clarity. And whether it sounds fucking stupid or not.

[LurkingHusband]

parent; to parent.
shepherd; to shepherd

I can see where it might have come from ....

[oldlaundbooth]

I hate it too.

YANBU.

[PenelopeStoppit]

Sorry MN- I hate parent used as a verb.