Is Concept a Verb?
Your instincts are correct, friends. It is not. And luckily, it's not a terribly popular usage of the word, so it looks as though the forces of light will prevail for now. As it turns out, though, you don't need to be a person who writes English good in order to submit a word for inclusion:
So, while I agree that language is for the people, I do wish more people would take its stewardship seriously. Otherwise, we are perilously close to swinging from trees and throwing feces at each other, as I have cautioned on many occasions.
I'd like to warn everyone who reads this to please refrain from using the word concept as a verb. It's a filthy habit and we much guard against its possible growth in popularity. If you work in advertising, this goes double for you. Instead, consider such healthy alternatives as "The team set aside some time to flesh out some concepts for the campaign."
See? Don't you just feel better already?
Del Salvio's efforts to add to English have also been mocked because of his own poor command of the language. He describes his suggested entry for the verb as "one proposed edition," instead of addition. His sample sentence for the entry is, "The team set aside some time for concepting in order to flush out some plausible directions," which not only uses the verbal noun concepting instead of the verb concept but also flush out instead of flesh out. (This last error has since been corrected on the site.) Del Salvio titles his exchanges with a Merriam-Webster editor "Converstations" and introduces them with, "Below find excerpts from Kory and I's conversations." If he is kidding, it is not obvious. But none of this matters. Dictionary editors look over all suggestions that come in, whether the suggester is a nonnative English speaker, a child, an idiot, a tenured professor of rhetoric, a newspaper editor, or a professional clubber of cute baby seals.
So, while I agree that language is for the people, I do wish more people would take its stewardship seriously. Otherwise, we are perilously close to swinging from trees and throwing feces at each other, as I have cautioned on many occasions.
I'd like to warn everyone who reads this to please refrain from using the word concept as a verb. It's a filthy habit and we much guard against its possible growth in popularity. If you work in advertising, this goes double for you. Instead, consider such healthy alternatives as "The team set aside some time to flesh out some concepts for the campaign."
See? Don't you just feel better already?
7 comments:
If I use it ironically can I use the non-word 'conversate'?
Certainly. I'll accept irony as a good excuse.
I'm fond of "supposably," myself.
How does one use "concept" as a verb? "Let's concept this?"
That's the one.
Makes you throw up a little, doesn't it?
That is really stupid. Who says that? Is this like a business thing? What the hell.
What kind of business has idiot lingo like that? Why not just say, "let's think of a concept" instead? It's only two extra syllables and you'll avoid sounding like a medieval dickweed (thank you, bill & ted).
i'm setting aside some time to conceptualize Del Salvio as a boy of infrequent hugs and affection.
although you have to admit, ConverStation would make great ad fodder for a new athletic shoe store/Internet cafe.
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