Comments on: Gift Turns into a Verb

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:52:02 +0000

Gift as a verb isn’t new at all. It’s an old usage distinguishing what might be a mere physical tranference with giving as a gift.

“Which shall seem to understand –
Till I answer, ‘Rise and go!
For the world must love and fear him
Whom I gift with heart and hand.’”
E B Browning
from the Romance of the Swan’s Nest

More examples may be found in the OED. It isn’t new just because a lot of people didn’t notice it before.

By: Andy Mason

Andy Mason — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 05:48:21 +0000

“Gifting” is one of those nouns-turned-verbs that really grates on me. It doesn’t even make sense to do this, as “giving” is a shorter word than “gifting”.

By: Will Cox

Will Cox — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 02:10:09 +0000

I've long thought that the use of "gift" as a verb was part of snooty dialect, put on by those with pretensions of class. It could be Martha Stewart's fault.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgifting.