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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Does that make me an ignoramus?
Yes, it does. That's the great thing about prescriptivism. You're wrong, and I'm right. No, but, seriously, I was kidding. Gifted is as valid as orientated. Gee, it's fun to be a descriptivist again.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I DO take exception to its use to mean "gave".
Yes, thank you for proving my point. Yes, indeed.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm with you and tED and Faldage.
No, you're wrong, Milo. As wrong as you can possibly be. You've never been right. Not now, or never. Go back to counting birds.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 270 |
*walks into the thread with a full-plate*
Uh yeah, you said it yourself-- these words have been with us for a long time. What gets to me is those words that are mutilated by new (nonsensical) definitions, like "props" (i.e. respect, recognition). Please, don't ever give me props, I stand well-enough on my own.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
You and tED and Faldage like meaning over structure, and zmjezhd and Capital Kiwi like structure over meaning.
I'm with you and tED and Faldage. 
Sorry Milo, I was commenting on the quality and forcefulness of the argument, not the content.
Personally, I think that if a word like "gifted" is applied to bright children for long enough, then it assumes that meaning . The use of "gifted" has shifted or been added to for long enough for the new meaning to "stick" IMHO.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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old hand
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old hand
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Excuse me, but your battle cry reminds me somewhat of Don Quijote's attack on windmills:
There is absolutely no need to accept a verb "to gift" in order to approve of the adjective "gifted". There are plenty of adjectives on -ed which were formed from nouns without passing through the verb stage: e.g. strongheaded, bearded, grey-haired...
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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There is absolutely no need to accept a verb "to gift" in order to approve of the adjective "gifted".
The OED1 does just that for both gifted and bearded, but that is because the verbs to gift and to beard have existed these four or five centuries.
Under the enter for -ed 2, the suffix that is applied to nouns substantive, such as blue-eyed and diseased, there is a great quotation from Coleridge apropos the suffix: "I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable talented ... The formation of a participle passive from a noun is a license that nothing but a very peculiar felicity can approve." [from Table Talk 1836]
But I love your invocation of Don Quixote's tilting against windmills as an apt image of grammar mavens railing against the very nature of language.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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And what, you may well ask, does gift as a verb offer that give doesn't?
Well, for one thing, gift definitively states that it is a gift and return is not expected. I could give you a book and expect you to return it at some time in the near future or to pass it on to someone else. If I gift you the book, it is yours to keep. It all depends on whether you value precision in the language.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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Quote:
Excuse me, but your battle cry reminds me somewhat of Don Quijote's attack on windmills:
There is absolutely no need to accept a verb "to gift" in order to approve of the adjective "gifted". There are plenty of adjectives on -ed which were formed from nouns without passing through the verb stage: e.g. strongheaded, bearded, grey-haired...
I kinda like "to stronghead," W, thanks.
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