VERBING

THE VERBING OF AMERICA


The verbing of America
Is getting out of hand,
Yet many nouns are also verbs,
Like toast and rake and land.
When I first heard hospitalize,
I thought it was a crime;
Why don't we apartmentalize?
We will -- just give us time!
If when we change a noun to verb
To come up with our `verbing,'
Why can't I, when I'm using herbs,
Refer to it as herbing?
For if I call myself a cook
, The verbal form is cooking;
And if I give someone a look,
It's also known as looking.
I give a gift
But I'm not gifting.
You get my drift,
Or am I drifting?
I get a bill
Because of billing,
But taking pills
Is never pilling.
I place a pin,
And I am pinning.
Play a violin --
Is it violining?
But play a fiddle,
And you're fiddling;
Or is this getting
Much too piddling?
Planting some seeds
Is always seeding,
And pulling weeds
Is surely weeding;
If drawing blood
Is always bleeding,
Why does a flood
Not lead to fleeding?
I'm wined and dined
But never beered.
I've eyed someone,
But never eared!
Turn on a light,
And I am lighting.
Turn on a lamp,
And it's not lamping.
If I can verbalize
A needle,
And egging on
Can mean to wheedle,
And I am doodling
With a doodle,
When I cook pasta,
Can't I noodle?
With all these punctuation marks,
I'm doing quite a lot of dotting;
But if I were to use a dash --
Don't you agree that I am dashing?
But comma-ing and period-ing?
And yet I can italicize
And sometimes must capitalize.
I Anglicize -- but Germanicize?
Or Swedicize, or Gaelicize?
With this I could go on and on,
Really ad infinitum;
Whether I lick these word problems,
I sure cannot beat 'em.
Our language is an enigma
In how its words are used;
And that is why, in verbing nouns,
We ought to be excused.

(Thanks to Jessica Kestner, who found this in St. Paul Pioneer Press)
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/family/verbin

SAN JERÓNIMO - INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATOR'S DAY

 September 30th is International Translator's Day. It is the day of St.Jerome, considered by many as the first translator.
He translated the Bible around the year 383 AC. Only those who knew Greek or Hebrew had access to the Bible until he translated it into Latin, "the Vulgata". So called because Latin was then the language spoken by the common people.

The International Federation of Translators made the "Rights of the Translator" its theme of the day:
"The right to express oneself in one's language. The right to be served in one's language. The right to information. The right to culture. The right to knowledge. The right to a fair trial. The right to legal aid." These rights, could not be respected if no translator was present.

Hizo una defensa de su traducción con un documento que se considera como el primer tratado de traductología.

CUESTIONES DE GÉNERO - GENDER ISSUES

Dejando a un lado el debate de si el"desliz" de Alfonso Guerra con respecto a la "Srta.Trini" fue bien o mal intencionado,  no deja de ser una anécdota que pone de manifiesto la lentitud con la que a veces avanza el idioma con respecto a la realidad social.

 Que siga vigente esa carpetobetónica costumbre de significar el estado civil de una mujer (Sra. o Srta.) cuando se alude o se dirige a ella dejándonos, en cambio, con la curiosidad de si un hombre (que siempre es un señor) está o no casado,  es sorprendente en estos tiempos.

En inglés se encontró una solución salomónica (aunque algo forzada de pronunciación) con el célebre Ms., que no es ni Mrs. ni Miss ni falta que hace tener que definirlo, pero que resulta útil al escribir una carta y permite conocer el género de tu interlocutor/a cuando se trata de nombres como Cameron, Evelyn, Evan,  Alex y un largo etcétera que se usan tanto para hombres como para mujeres.

La traducción literal de Ms, si decidiéramos hacer algo parecido en castellano, sería Sa.

 El status quo del uso del género "masculino" como genérico está desfasado, las mujeres queremos dejar de ser invisibles también - y sobre todo - en el lenguaje.  Cada lengua lo digiere a su manera. La adaptación del lenguaje al enorme cambio que supuso la entrada de la mujer al mundo social y laboral y su  presencia visible en el mundo, está siendo lenta y en ocasiones farragosa.

Con los pronombres, el inglés contemporáneo se ha topado con un problema serio.  El uso genérico del  pronombre masculino es ya tan inaceptable socialmente como políticamente incorrecto, lo que nos lleva a adoptar la fórmula "aclaratoria" pero ortopédica del  he/she, him or her, him/herself, etc. (Observad que sigue siendo el pronombre masculino el que se escribe por delante).
Esta solución - sólo aplicable al lenguaje escrito, por cierto,  altera el ritmo de lectura y la musicalidad del texto, haciéndolo en ocasiones muy farragoso:

  "Solvent abuse is not a crime but if a police officer finds a young person under 17 sniffing solvents, he or she should take him or her to a secure place such as a police station, home or hospital."  

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TIPS on how to avoid cumbersome gender issues with English pronouns:

1) use the noun instead of the pronoun:

 "Solvent abuse is not a crime but if a police officer finds a young person under 17 sniffing solvents, the officer should take the person to a secure place such as a police station, home or hospital." 

2) use the plural: 

"Solvent abuse is not a crime but if police officers find young people under 17 sniffing solvents, they should take them to a secure place such as a police station, home or hospital." 

3) if this is part of a training guide for police officers:

 "Solvent abuse is not a crime but if you find a young person under 17 sniffing solvents, you should take them to a secure place such as a police station, home or hospital." 

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Sobre los nombres genéricos en inglés, hablaré otro día, pero en este link podéis leer más sobre "gender and language".