this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2025
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Since when is vague a verb?
Verbing weirds language.
"Edit" and "access" also weren't originally verbs. Same with "babysit" and "eavesdrop". Backformation and category changing are common and perfectly natural processes in English.
Edit: This isn't directed at the OP of this comment chain, but I'm always surprised by the crazy amount of ignorant prescriptivism I see all over Lemmy. Like, I expected that shit on Reddit, but I thought we were better than that here, especially since literally the only real reason for prescriptivism is sowing class division and excluding people for not having access to the secret knowledge of "correct" (yuck!) grammar.
Did you Google that?
Nope, I can do this all day. Other fun examples of backformation off the top of my head are: "to burgle" from "burglar" (which the Brits still get mad about (note: this is incorrect, see conversation below)), originally from the Latin agent noun burglator from the verb burgare; and "cherry", backformed from Old French cerise, which was reinterpreted as a plural (even though it wasn't one), and then a new singular form was backformed. The same thing happened to "pea" (though that's a native English word) - you can still see the original "pease" in the old nursery rhyme: "Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in a pot nine days old".
We don't get mad about burgle, that's just a normal word. I do remember thinking I'd gone insane the first time I heard someone unironically use the word "burglarize" to mean "burgle" though!
Ah, yep, you're absolutely right, it is "burglarize" that gets y'all riled up. That's what I get for going off memory and not checking my sources. I've edited my comment above to point out the error.
I was making a joke with a modern example of a noun being verbified, but thank you for your insight.
Oh wow, I'm feeling very whooshed at the moment. Sorry about that.
can't be wooshed if the joke wasn't funny. I'm like you, spontaneously going into long rants on linguistic fun facts. most people ignore me. I enjoyed your brief history on verbification
I understand language changes over time but sometimes it's stupider than others
From your biased, subjective point of view that has nothing to do with the objective facts of language, maybe.
Objectively, any words with more than two vocals in succession is dumb and only meant for cheating at Scrabble, objectively
verbing a word that isn't commonly verbed? that's the main thing i love in the English langauge, the flexibility to fuck around with it and still be understood by others without having to explain what you're doing
Now you're Englishing proper m8.
Using the suffix
-erfor a two syllable word isn't any correcter than verbing a noun and would probably make quite a few English teachers red in the face.Both have a linguistic use; the verb "vaguing" is a shortened form of the cumbersome "vague-posting", while "stupider" is a more emphatic and/of colloquial form of "more stupid". Neither can be replaced by their more formal form without changing the meaning of the sentence slightly.
Objectively they are very similar linguistic quirks, the only reason you'd use one but dislike the other is familiarity. Why dismiss it out of hand when you can excitedly marvel at a novel way people can remotely transfer thoughts?
i mean, you understood the meaning of the sentence, right? so the person managed to get their point accross, and saved on length by using that form - that's actually quite linguistically clever!
I got an idea that the person was venting/ranting but couldn't understand the specifics of the term "vauguing". There's so many mistakes in their response that I just assumed it was a typo.
Looks likes it's a word that been around since the 1600s but is pretty much never used anymore.
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/vaguing_adj?tl=true&tab=factsheet
Keep complaining and it's going to be a noun next
Why don't you have a vague about it
Girls have a vaguena.
Shutup Vague.
I'm joking please don't get mad at me.
You're so vague that you probably think this song ain't about you.
There must be some sort of place somewhere for people like... Wait, what were we talking about?
Since someone used it as a verb and it was understood by their audience
"Vagueing" as in "vagueposting".
'vagueing abt me being ableist'
'implying i was ableist'
There, translated.
Oh look, proper english is more direct and succinct!
Guess the tumblr user likes vagueing as well.
Not quite, they would've been implying someone was ableist, not anyone in particular.
Since we've all had to rework any word referencing Twitter for obvious reasons, I suppose.
"Posting" is fine, all the dumb "toots" and "skeets" are not. If you're trying to salvage "vaguetweeting" I suppose that is a semi-reasonable outcome. I don't think it works quite as well for subtweeting, though.
What the hell is vaguetweeting though?
Vagueposting istthe replacement word. It means posting about someone or a situational without being precise about the person or event
Like. ... "Wishing some people would mind their own business". Or "Life can be really hard sometimes, but you've got to push through". With no context, or explanation. Basically seeking attention or sympathy.
Kinda like that yes, but often a bit more specific to a situation, like the example the OP mentioned "an ableist tried to make small talk about the weather" etc.
Half the time it isn't even that clear what they are posting about.
That's jus tweeting in general.
Also, I realize the resulting confusion means this was technically "vaguing"/vagueposting itself. Recursion!
Tweeting vaguely / Vaguely tweeting.
What about using the word "tweet" to refer to a post in any microblogging platform
I could live with that, but... I mean, "post" is right there. And with the lines blending over time between "microblogging", this more forum-like pseudo-reddit thing, Instagram-style image-centered posts... I just don't know that the per-platform distinction is worth it anymore, with or without the Twitter nonsense.
I don't know what a vaguetweet is either, but that's fucking gross too
As far as zoomer/alpha slang goes, this makes a HELL of a lot more sense than most of the shit they've turned into verbs and the vast lexicon of terms they have for people who disappoint them.
slang is the way it is for a reason, it's why its called slang lmao.
Sick literally didn't make any sense the way people used it when it was new, same shit today, just different words, times change old man!
Every generation has a word soup vocabulary that generations prior don't get or can't use properly. It mostly falls out of vogue in a few years. Almost all of the words that are being used ironically to make fun of the lexicon, will become obsolete. The words that don't get the highest usage and remain stable in unironic use will move forward with the rest of the English language. That's just how language works.
Cool.
(See what i did there)