Verving It Up
“One summers in the Hamptons, or the Vineyard, or possibly Biarritz, though I may be wrong about that,” Sarah Kaufman ruminates in Verb Your Enthusiasm (2026). “Is Biarritz for wintering or autumning? Whatever the season, that spot sounds divine. Yet if travellers springed or falled there, the grammar police would drag them in for questioning.” She observes how some verbs start off as proper nouns. Boycott is a 19th century example, originating from the unfortunate Captain Charles Boycott, a British land agent in Ireland. Irish activists urged his employees to stop working for him and for the local community to shun him. A 20th century example is hoovering, derived from the once ubiquitous Hoover vacuums. Dysoning hasn’t quite taken off yet. Sarah quotes Forbes, “You will likely be rewarded for owning that verb for the rest of time.” Now for a 21st century example. Biarritz: you’ve been Lavender’s Blued.
