Monday, September 05, 2005

 

"Sculpture" as a Verb?

Ick.

Next thing you know, they'll start using "pleasure" as a verb, too.

(Oh, right....)

11 Comments:

Anonymous polyglot conspiracy said...

Hate to bear bad news, but it seems that sculpt is actually a back-formation from sculptor (all from Latin).

OED gives for sculpt (v.), earliest citation 1864:

1. trans. To sculpture; absol., to practise the art of sculpture.

Sculpture (v.), earliest citation 1645:

1. trans. To represent in sculpture, to carve (a design or figure) from the solid.

Erin? You there? Lady of the Lexicon?

8:15 PM  
Blogger DO said...

Oh, it has nothing to do with whether it's correct or not. It just sounds icky.

8:17 PM  
Anonymous pc said...

Oh. Well, it was a good excuse to visit the OED, anyway.

11:59 PM  
Anonymous Ellen said...

My favorite verb form is my high school friend R's: "I was so obnoxed by him."

1:20 AM  
Blogger Erin said...

Ooh, "obnoxed" is good.

I don't mind "sculpture," or, for that matter, "pleasure."

(Okay, okay, I'm lying. They're not my faves. But I wanted to connipt Dean.)

1:20 PM  
Blogger DO said...

Shows how much you know. Everybody knows "connipt" is intransitive.

1:33 PM  
Anonymous vr said...

I thought it was factitive.

2:20 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

Hey, *I* decide whether my verbs get objects. (Whether they're objected?)

9:21 AM  
Anonymous pc said...

I'd just like to point out the irony in "DO" posting about intransitivity.

12:29 PM  
Anonymous Francis said...

That'll do, PC.

11:30 AM  
Blogger Sendhil said...

"Happy" and "fraud" are still okay, right?

("What gets wetter and wetter as it dries?")

9:45 AM  

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