An Update on the Proper Verb Question
I took the question of “G/google” as a verb to my colleagues. I was hoping for clarification and support in my theory that the verb was, in fact, a “common” verb, that did not require capitalization. But, once we began contemplating the issue and searching for other proper nouns that have become verbs, we realized that, as far as slang goes, we have a problem. There does seem to be a trend in proper verbs this year. Politics seems to create quite a few verbs from nouns and people tend to capitalize these. We discovered this only after G/googling slang verbs. Fitsnews lists several new “proper verbs” that all seem to require capitalization. For example:
Romney (verb) – To flip-flop or change one’s mind. Ex. “I know I said I wanted blueberry pancakes, honey, but I Romneyed my mind.”
Obama (verb) – To praise immodestly. Ex. “I’m going to blush if you don’t stop Obama-ing me.”
Bowden (verb) – The act of starting something strong but losing steam toward the end. Ex. “Son, when I asked you to rake the yard I didn’t mean for you to start the job and then Bowden out on me.”
So, if we create slang verbs from the names of people and create a “proper verb” from them, is the verb G/google any different? What about Xerox? Not that I use xerox any more as a verb (I simply say copy). Was this a capitalized verb? If not, was not capitalizing it an oversight?
Okay readers, you can chime in now. This is quickly becoming a hot topic around the office as we throw in more and more potential verbs. Michelle is stretching it–she has vowed to go “M/mcdonalding” for lunch. Personally, I don’t see that one catching on. We’ll see.
