"Gifted" as a verb

[JimandPam]

I've seen 3 threads just this week with 'gifted' as a verb

e.g. My father was gifted a house

I'm not sure if this word is normal American English or a new usage that has crept in over time (I know there is a history of the word as a verb). I've seen it used widely even in formal pieces of writing recently.

It just makes me cringe and feels wrong compared to 'my father was given a house'

Am I the only one who twitches when they read it on here?

It gives me the creeps as well.

It's not really necessary but it is making a subtle distinction. You can give someone something without it being a gift.

I’m with you OP (though many others won’t be).
I dislike it so much it’s actually put me off the word ‘gift’ as a noun, which I’m sure I didn’t have a problem with previously!

I hate it and, alarmingly, heard myself say it the other day. The relentless onslaught of American usage. Gets everywhere.

I absolutely hate it, it sounds so wanky.

I absolutely hate it.

Language is fluid, it's always being influenced and changing.
I like the nuance.

Gifted means having exceptional talent or natural ability, it doesn't mean you've been given something. The word for that is given. I thought that was a given.

I find it annoying too and nearly started a thread about it...

That’s been creeping in for years, OP, though I agree in finding it irritating, especially when used of small things. I’m broadly ok with ‘My bazillionaire aunt gifted me a house deposit’, but not ‘DH gifted me a bottle of perfume’.

My father was gifted a house
my father was given a house

Action and ownership of object:

My father was given a house and X now wants it back

For a short time for free? > it is X's give it back now
For money from father? > it is X's give back when contract ends
For ever? > its fathers house now

My father was gifted a house and X now wants if back

Yep its your fathers

I hate 'is anyone gifting?' On social media.

Just say... 'Does anyone have a * I can have?'

Like gifting is somehow a nicer way of asking for something for free. Hate it

100% agree OP.

I thought that 'gifted' was a specific legal term but it has been taken on as a mainstream alternative to given. Perhaps people think their act of giving is somehow more special and generous if they say 'gifted.?

I think it sounds pretentious and wanky when used incorrectly. Like saying 'myself' when you mean 'me'.

This.

It's perfectly clear. I never completely understand what's wrong with people using new words or Americanisms.

I dislike it too.

But I find the incorrect use of 'myself' and 'yourself' much worse rage inducing 😂

I think it's quite useful.

I see your "gifted" as a verb and raise you... "gifting solutions"

"I just want to thank yourself so much for gifting this lovely thing to Sarah and I"

It's at the lower end of petty annoyances for me. At least with "gifted" the meaning is clear, something has been given as a gift to someone else. "Given" doesn't make it clear whether something was a gift or merely a transaction.

"I gave him a tenner" v "I gifted him a tenner" - the latter makes it clear it was a gift, the former could mean it was a gift or it could be I handed over a ten pound note in return for a bottle of wine in the corner shop. (Obviously this example is outdated, I'd have paid by contactless, but I'm using it to explain my point in far more detail than is necessary.)

Coercing a verb out of a noun is definitely an American thing that is creeping in over here. It's not particularly offensive in my view, provided it makes sense. What I really hate is portmanteauing (yes that's intentional). Things like glamping or murse, people who use these terms (other than to criticise people who use them) should be locked up.

I loathe it, it makes my skin crawl whenever I see it. Just use the verb 'give', or, more formally, 'donate'.

I don't like it either. I would say "I was given..... as a gift".

I present you with this gift

I gifted her a present

@MegTheForgetfulCat

"I just want to thank yourself so much for gifting this lovely thing to Sarah and I"

I'll just tweak your version for the full on rage inducing version:

I just want to thank yourself so much for gifting this lovely thing to Sarah and myself

😂

I find language pedantry very annoying.

Language is supposed to be fluid and defined by its users.