“Verbing weirds language.”
I imagine many of you will be familiar with that quotation from the most excellent Calvin and Hobbes. In the cartoon, Calvin explains that he likes to “verb words”. His example of verbing is “access” - which used to be a thing, but is now something you do.
In the past few years I’ve noticed a comparable, but different trend: the nouning of verbs. To be honest, I blame Paul Hollywood.
It’s more than a decade since The Great British Bake-Off hit the screens in the UK. In case you live under a rock: it’s a TV show in which amateur bakers take part in a multi-round competition. Paul Hollywood was (and still is) a judge, and frequently declares things to be “a good bake”.
I initially understood him to be talking about the quality of the baking process, rather like you might admire the “finish” of a paint job. However, even if that was what he meant, it seems to have become broadly synonymous with cake. Cafés advertise their “tasty bakes”. The label on the box of cocoa in my cupboard declares it to be “ideal for rich bakes”.
I find this a little odd, but these things happen. Bake means cake now, that’s fine.
However, the nouning is spreading. A few weeks ago, someone replied to one of my writing-prompt Tweets to compliment me on “a lovely write”. Which was jolly nice of them, but even as I thanked them I was thinking “a write”? Is that a thing now?
While wrestling open a bag of gnocchi the other night, I noticed the label. Yes, I am a compulsive reader of labels. Gnocchi is, at least according to the British supermarket Tesco, “a hearty eat”. I am very aware that I personally don’t like these new nounings. To me, they feel… babyish. Lumpen and boring.
However, I can’t help but notice that there are plenty of nouns that follow this exact pattern that have existed all my life. The sort of cake one makes in an oblong tin and cuts into squares has always been “a traybake”. Why should I be quite happy having my say, or resisting a change, but opposed to consuming my eat? Perhaps I’m wrong to blame Paul Hollywood, perhaps the rot set in when like became a noun.
Language changes. People will coin new words, and bend existing ones into new shapes, and probably a few people will clutch their pearls over it. The world will not end; the English language will not head inexorably dogwards.
I’m sure it will be just another evolve.