Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

98 replies

Rainatnight · 04/10/2017 12:26

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?!

OP posts:
VeniVidiWeeWee · 04/10/2017 14:37

I am a pedant but, on brand, (to mark with a hot iron, from where we get brand names), goes back to the late 1500's. Not too many corporations around then.

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 14:38

K425

Interesting. Although there was no "English" in the 700s Hmm. Angslic perhaps ?

Wheres my Beowulf ?

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 14:39

(snip) the late 1500's. Not too many corporations around then

probably a few worshipful guilds though ...

VeniVidiWeeWee · 04/10/2017 14:48

Lurking

Indeed! But I can't see a Guild using W1A speak.

QuinionsRainbow · 04/10/2017 14:50

Now you've got my attention, what about "burglarise"? Is someone who "burglarises" called a "burglariser"? And what exactly does a "burglariser" do? Do they "burglariserise"? etc. ad nauseum!

VeniVidiWeeWee · 04/10/2017 14:55

*Quinions"

That is American, but should be with a "z"
.
But could you have a buggerizer, (one who huggers about)?

Original poster
Rainatnight · 04/10/2017 14:57

Ha, ok, I stand corrected about the OED and the 16th century. I still think it sounds awful. And agree with PP who said that it's right up there with 'yourself' instead of 'you' as an attempt to sound grander.

OP posts:
selly24 · 04/10/2017 14:59

YADefinitely NBU.

Hate gifted!
Have heard friends (Indian heritage) saying they gave and exam which always puzzled me...

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 15:03

Indeed! But I can't see a Guild using W1A speak.

I have a feeling Chaucer might have made some digs. If not Shakespeare ....

NotDavidTennant · 04/10/2017 15:06

There is a worse one: birthed.

Any time I read on here about someone having "birthed a baby" it is like nails on a blackboard.

There is no ambiguity being resolved, as in "gifted" and "gave". It is pure pretentiousness.

Topseyt · 04/10/2017 15:06

Gifting is used a lot in the legal and financial sectors. It us perfectly correct and is to make the meaning clear.

If you give someone money you could be giving them a loan which you would want them to repay, or you could be "gifting" it to them, meaning that, under the 7 year rule, it is a gift and you do not expect it back.

Why the fuck this gets people so riled up I have no idea. It is correct language. Why pretend that it isn't just because it is not "conversational" language in everyday use?

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 15:07

On a related note, how about the odd (to my London ears) habit in some parts of the country to reverse verbs ...

as in the infamous "I'll learn you !!!!".

When we arranged our mortgage, the adviser was very keen to work out "how much we can borrow you" Shock.

I'm not sure if DS has picked that up as a Brummieism, or just says it to annoy me.

VeniVidiWeeWee · 04/10/2017 15:08

Good point, but Shakespeare used branded at least 4 times.

DJBaggySmalls · 04/10/2017 15:11

How come 'gifted' is middle class but 'gived' isnt?

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 15:17

How come 'gifted' is middle class but 'gived' isnt?

Norman overlords and peasant scum ?

As highlighted on QI (and separately in a Docu Stephen Fry did about English) we use the posh words for the meat served at the table, and the workaday words for the animals the servants kept ...

Beef/Cow
Pork/Swine
Mutton/Sheep

(in the same docu, Fry noted that Churchills famous speeches had been written very deliberately to avoid French rooted words, and are almost entirely anglo-saxon ... to appeal to as many people as possible.)

blueshoes · 04/10/2017 15:24

Topseyt, I am with you.

K425 · 04/10/2017 15:27

LurkingHusband Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) right up to the Norman invasion. Middle English (Chaucer) evolved from and overlapped it, then slowly evolved, via the Great Vowel Shift, into Modern English (Shakespeare et al). I suspect we've gone past ModE now and need a new term!

BeyondThePage · 04/10/2017 15:33

I have not been to Next since they invited me (via email) to

"shop the boot edit"

SPEAK ENGLISH!

squoosh · 04/10/2017 15:48

I was irritated by a shop that asked me to join a 'wait list'.

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 15:51

K425

Having a non-English parent seems to have imbued me with a fascination for English (hence the documentaries etc).

There was a wonderful long-series BBC documentary in the 80s "The Story of English" book stil available; part 1 .

I liked the way it addressed rap/hip-hop, pointing out that rhyming English was embarrassingly old-hat ....

LurkingHusband · 04/10/2017 15:52

I was irritated by a shop that asked me to join a 'wait list'.

And when did "reserve" become pre-order (and don't get me started on pre-owned !)

Original poster
Rainatnight · 04/10/2017 16:19

But Topseyt, I'm not talking about legal and financial contexts. It's used when people are giving each other, say, baby presents.

OP posts:
VeniVidiWeeWee · 04/10/2017 16:58

OP

But you're on AIBU. People argue. Had you said I don't like hearing unusual, but correct usages of English, you wouldn't have been AIBU.

PenelopeStoppit · 04/10/2017 17:13

Sorry MN- I hate parent used as a verb.

oldlaundbooth · 04/10/2017 17:13

I hate it too.

YANBU.