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Pimp My Ride Biatch

by The Copy Nazi Banned
4 replies
Linguists use the terms “zero derivation” and “functional shifting” to describe the morphing of a noun into a verb or vice versa with minimal or no change of form: bristle, thumb, stump. Impatient authors can hurry this process along through the rhetorical device known as anthimeria, deliberately employing words from one grammatical category as though they belonged to another. The phrase pimp my ride is a double anthimeria: the noun has been verbed, the verb nouned.
Do mutant verbs enrich the English language or pollute it? When Shakespeare uses an anthimerial verb such as peace, uncle or ghost, we praise his genius. But when our boss urges us to solutionize a problem, we run screaming from the room. Whatever happened to solve?
Article about Mutant Verbs - The Proliferation of Verbifications - NYTimes.com

Verbs derived from brand names face a similarly brief life span before being thrown to rest, like Thomas Hardy’s “Drummer Hodge,” uncoffined. We no longer Xerox documents or Hoover carpets. Will our children’s grandchildren still Google references and Facebook their friends? Probably not.
#biatch #pimp #ride
  • Profile picture of the author tjaysen70
    Hey right on that was pretty cool fo sho. Yeah I often find that the english language is crazy and has so many double meanings on so many topics. I find that when my 8 yr old asks me questions about a word and the meaning it has, I often find myself explaining the various ways that the word can be used.
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  • Profile picture of the author HostWind
    My personal opinion on these mutations of the English language--
    The distinct difference between the two examples you gave is that one, the "pimp my ride" scenario, is either an evolution, or devolution, of the English language. Blame Ebonics, but the English language has changed for specific groups of people to include such words or phrases as simple colloquial speech.
    However, when your boss, or George Bush, makes up a word while effectively butchering the original word or meaning, for simple lack of knowing the word he's looking for...That's when I have a beef.
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    To wit: to google.
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