I’m sure I’ve done it myself.
“Can we diarise that?”
“Who authored this %#*& report?”
“How can we leverage that?”
But not very often.
Even Will did it. (Which is reassuring)
Richard II
Henry IV: My gracious uncle!
Edmund of Langley: Tut, tut! Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle: I am no traitor’s uncle.
But nouning verbs really gets my goat.
“That’s a big ask”
“Not a good look”
And especially this classic.
“Sorry I’m late – couldn’t find a park”
I thought he meant that he was trying politely topolitely (bloody split infinitives…) infer that he was looking for a tree to pee behind.
But no – he couldn’t find a parking space.
So when I saw this headline in the Nelson Mail (the above examples are all New Zealand patois), I immediately thought that someone had asked their neighbours in advance for permission to leave a car somewhere.
But it really was all about a
park n. An area of land set aside for public use.
Confusing….
You Must Be From Away 