Michael Skapinker has a great column in today’s Financial Times, “Give diligencing its due in the lexicon of 2010,” on words newly included in the New Oxford American Dictionary. (Behind the subscriber wall, alas.) He quotes Steven Pinker estimating that “a fifth of English verbs started as nouns, including ‘to progress’, to contact’, and to host’.” Moreover, even “unfriend,” as in Facebook, actually has a long history (as indeed, I would add, “un” words do in English, “unhand” or “unsex”) … in 1659, says Skapinker, Thomas Fuller wrote, “I hope, Sir, that we are not Unfriended by this Difference which hath happened betwixt us.” As for the movement from due diligence to “diligencing,” I would note that it is being marked sternly in red as I type this as misspelled. As is “unfriend.”
(PS. I agree with the commenters that “defriend” is much more the common FB expression, not “unfriend.”)
Brett says:
I still find “impact” strange as a verb unrelated to teeth. But right now, I think I find “ask” as a noun more jarring. As in, “We’re going to expect more from the Afghan government going forward and we’ve got some very specific asks that we will be making,” here. I guess “request” is too weak, “demand” is too strong, and you can’t say: “we’re going to ask for some specific things.” Or something.
Glad to get that off my chest and, inevitably, mark myself as a crank.
December 15, 2009, 10:35 pmGlenn Bowen says:
Compounding is a trait of Germanic languages and their literature, as is coining; these, and the noun-to-verb can be explored in Shakespeare to quite an extent, and earlier Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Many English words and the use of same appear initially in Shakespeare.
December 15, 2009, 11:21 pmMike McDougal says:
What an atrocious word.
December 15, 2009, 11:29 pmRob F says:
Due to its convoluted syntax, this sentence almost begs to be marked in green.
December 15, 2009, 11:35 pmEzra says:
Ich bin ein Berliner.
December 15, 2009, 11:56 pmGuy says:
Except for the hanging past participial phrase “as misspelled”, I’m not sure it’s so bad. I think “As for the movement from due diligence to ‘diligencing,’ I would note that, as I type this, it is being marked sternly in read as misspelled”, or “As for the movement from due diligence to ‘diligencing,’ I would note that it is being marked sternly in read as misspelled as I type this” are still a little clunky, but better.
Treating “diligencing” as a word is an abomination, though. It’s ugly and I can’t think of any situation where it would be useful.
December 16, 2009, 12:41 amEric M says:
I still think defriend is a better word.
December 16, 2009, 1:25 amGulf Coast Bandit says:
Eric: I agree. I read somewhere that the founder of Facebook said that the proper term for that action was defriend, not unfriend. But, alas, unfriend seems to be in popular use, at least here at my university.
December 16, 2009, 1:37 amjellis58 says:
In my experience, “defriend” not “unfriend” is standard usage for facebook users.
December 16, 2009, 1:55 amjellis58 says:
And I just asked my roommate and her friend what verb they would use for the act of removing a friend from facebook and the both instantly said defriend. Small sample size, but the answers are consistent with my suspicion that defriend is the much more common term.
December 16, 2009, 2:03 amDavid McCourt says:
Unfriend might pass, as it conveys the idea with directness and clarity; but diligencing is awkward, vague, and sounds like you are making Chinese tea (ginseng) — which is perhaps what the correspondent above me is saying.
December 16, 2009, 8:28 amTweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Unfriend Me Here -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eugene Volokh, Eugene Volokh. Eugene Volokh said: Unfriend Me Here: Michael Skapinker has a great column in today’s Financial Times, “Give diligencing its due in.. http://bit.ly/7NkSxC [...]
December 16, 2009, 8:58 amdcperson says:
you may be a crank, but you got two of my most complained about words there.
and diligencing is atrocious.
December 16, 2009, 9:08 amDavid McCourt says:
“I read somewhere that the founder of Facebook said that the proper term for that….”
I wouldn’t rely on the people at Facebook for advice about proper terms. If you send a message to another person, they say you are “commenting on his status” (?!?).
December 16, 2009, 9:28 amDavid McCourt says:
What need have we for diligencing, when we have the perfectly good words inquirating and investigatorizing?
December 16, 2009, 9:34 amMikee says:
Strategery in this nukular age is required in written communications.
Much like my pater said about curse words, “diligencing” may be recognized in the dictionary but its use indicates a weak mind.
December 16, 2009, 11:30 amAssistant Village Idiot says:
In the 17th & 18th C’s neologisms and flowery language were quite the rage. People thought it was just fun to do, see “hornswoggle” or “tatterdemalion.”
As to weak minds, that is a very slippery slope. Word choice is full of social signifiers which we mistakenly equate with education or even intelligence signifiers. Felicity of speech or composition is a good thing, and precision a better thing. I agree that diligencing is unattractive and imprecise. If it had come down from Dryden or Johnson we would find it charming, however.
December 16, 2009, 11:53 amCrunchy Frog says:
Diligencing??? Gak.
Vetting. Much better, and already in the public lexicon.
December 16, 2009, 1:52 pmUnfriend Me Here | Liberal Whoppers says:
[...] Unfriend Me Here Share this [...]
December 17, 2009, 12:05 amBay says:
When you get your own ipad time, maybe you also wish to have your personal iPad Case and iPad Accessories to better protect the iPad. When you come to our web site, the first you have to know is that you’ll be able to buy the best top quality and most expensive iPad case, also your favorite iPad cases and iPad accessories. There are hundreds kinds of ipad case
September 9, 2010, 12:05 pm