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some grammatical details (small LBC content)

To: triumph List <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: some grammatical details (small LBC content)
From: "Jim Muller" <jimmuller@pop.mail.rcn.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 20:59:04 -0500
Organization: Southern Rail
> >Randall - who's been fixing to fix his TR3 for a long time now <g>
1. "Fixin' to fix", not "fixing to fix".  The subtlety is important.

2. Words like "Teglerize" and "verbalize" are not true examples of 
verbing in the fullest Calvin&Hobbs sense.  (Note, "verbing" is a 
gerund, i.e. a noun, made from a noun-which-had-been-verbed).  The 
reason these others are not is that, at least in common usage, the 
suffic "-ize" denotes the act of applying the root noun or its 
properties.  To be truly verbed, someone or something must be 
"Teglered" or "verbed".  ("Verbalize" is actually a hybrid, composed 
of the "-ize" suffix and "verbal", which is most commonly an 
adjective but perhaps a noun too in some odd way.)  But "Simonize" 
used as a verb *is* a true example of verbing, since "Simonize" is 
the name of a product and thus a proper noun!

LBC content:

Of course, in the old days, we would "simonize our watches" to WWV 
before starting out on a TDS rally.

The onset of winter heralds a new season of LBC usage, i.e. keeping 
one's garage warm, wherein we will be wrenching.  This use of 
"wrench" as an intransitive verb is probably an example of verbing 
the American name of a spanner.  In normal usage, one wrenches 
*something*, such as wrenching the muffler off the tailpipe or 
wrenching one's back while attempting to do so.  Full recovery from 
this unfortunate event before next spring's driving season would 
involve a triumph of modern medicine!
-- 
Jim Muller
jimmuller@pop.rcn.com
'80 Spitfire, '70 GT6+

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