to hate how some words have been changed from verbs to nouns

[QueenoftheNights]

I'm thinking of things like 'hacks'.
To hack used to only mean (in slang) to be able to do something. 'Can you hack it?'
Now we have 'life hacks' and all kinds of 'hacks'.

'To learn' has been corrupted into 'learnings'.

I also hate the expression 'go to' when it means something you choose above anything else. Like the 'Packed lunches - your go-tos' now trending here.

Ok hands up, I'm a writer so language matters to me, but more and more I'm made to think 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

I'm a writer so language matters to me

Do you speak in Medieval English then?

Language evolves and you are just as guilty of using “new” language as people who have go-to life hacks.

I find it annoying but language changes and evolves constantly.

I very much doubt you are sat wondering what things mean. If you are, you’re probably not that much of a writer.

What about when nouns are used as verbs??? It grates when I hear sports commentators talking about 'medalling', e.g. she medalled at the Commonwealth Games.

Gift as a verb winds me up. So does calling a photo a ‘capture’.

But, alas, pedantry over language is not allowed on MN.

I don’t like nouns that are all of a sudden verbs. My favourite is “nappy” used for example in a sentence like this: “Do you cloth nappy your child?”
I appreciate that language evolves but I still don’t like this particular change.

I understand that language evolves but some things irritate me - particularly work-style changes such as 'I will action that' and 'Thank you for actioning that'.

Gifted drives me up the wall. Unrelated but very annoying

Surely hack used to mean to cut away at something in a rough manner?

I think everyone has little things like this that irritate them if they are really honest with themselves! But like everyone says, you have to just roll with it, really. My personal one is ‘adulting.’ Urgh, it just makes me cringe.

@somanymistakes it still does, doesn’t it?

I thought ‘life hacks’ came from the IT meaning - ‘to hack the system’ or ‘it’s a hack for the code’

I.e if you have a hack for the code to make it work for you, you can therefore have a hack for e.g getting a duvet in the duvet cover (or whatever).

And as a writer you surely must appreciate that language is constantly evolving.

I am told, by my kids, that I sound like a twat. I think they mean I am erudite but whatever. 🙄

Language changes. I think it is age rather than your occupation that means the changes irk you. Sorry.

I read mid-century novels to my son as preparation for exams. It was like reading a different language. So much more challenging and beautifully written. But they didn't appeal to him so I didn't care he read The Wimpy Kid constantly.

He reads nothing now. (Except online instructions for Fortnite)

It is annoying but it isn't the end of the world.

I'm a writer, so language matters to me.

I loathe the narrow minded obsession with current form. I love coming up with turns of phrase or style to add life to my characters, to see how language might be different in a world that is different than ours. And the world today is different to the world you were born in, and it will keep on changing, and changing the language to suit it.

You should consider trying it in your writing. Writers obsessed with a particular form often end up with characters that are bland and uniform because style is more important to the writer than effect.

Grammarists always strike me as somewhat simple - many I know are unable to parse the meaning of a grammatically imperfect sentence. They see correct grammar as a sign of intelligence, whereas I tend to see the inability to understand a phrase that doesn't conform to 'the rules' as a sign of limited understanding.

(I also take great issue with the fact that most grammar rules people take as correct were invented by eighteenth century writing hobbyists, but they were just that - opinions on form. If 'less' was good enough for Alfred the Great to use to indicate a smaller number, why is the opinion of some forgotten linguist more important?)

I remember when life hacks used to be called tips.
I love language and quite like how it changes, but I think if I worked where people verbed when they should be nouning () I’d be irritated.
My real cringe is myself and yourself for me and you. Mangled and wrong, and I’m afraid in my opinion never said by anyone who sounds educated.

My issues are:
I weren’t... We was... I done... I see (him the other day, for example)

We’re trying to eat more healthier. It’s more better to do it this way...

There’s along list of things that annoy me. These are this morning’s highlights.

I'm a writer so language matters to me, but more and more I'm made to think 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

I'm a writer and a linguist so I love language change!

I just hate the use of "reach out" it really grates on me, although that might have been the person using it to be fair

Saying women rather than womAn when referring to a woman in the singular.

I'm a linguist, I fully understand how language evolves, and it can't be stopped, but things do grate on me too, OP.

Many of the above examples and more.
Mixing up of homophones like bear/bare, they're/there/their and affect/effect etc, really bother me.

I know I am a pedant.

I've noticed Gmail is now telling me how to answer my emails. I find it very reminiscent 1984, ie trying to tell us how to speak and write.

My main pet peeves are around really, really basic things. Like the word 'a'. This is not a difficult word! But I constantly see people using it as a prefix instead of a word: alot, awhile (yes, I know this is a word but it's not the same as 'a while').

But on the noun/verb point, my least favourite is 'evidencing'. It's so unclear. Do you mean 'providing evidence to prove' something or 'providing evidence of' something? Just say what you mean!

I don't like that advert that says 'Find your happy'. Could it be the Rightmove ad? I'm not sure.
The other thing that grates is when people say 'I'm going shops' or 'Got to go doctor'.
I have accepted that not everyone cares about this stuff though.

I find it annoying too op even though I realise language evolves.

“At this Olympics I hope to medal in three disciplines”. That’s the nadir for me.

I haaaate "speak to that" instead of "talk about that"... but enough people say it that now I'm doubting myself. It's not right, at all, is it?

I dislike it when perfectly good words exist already and new forms are introduced in some sort of mistaken belief that it's cleverer or sounds better or something. "Reach out " is a classic when all they mean is "contact" or "talk to"; in another context, "myself" when they mean "me" or "I". There is no need for "hacks" when you mean "tips", there is no need for "gift" when you mean "give". And I seriously hate "however" incorrectly used in the middle of a sentence instead of "but".