Gift – Verb?

Let me preface this by saying that this is my personal opinion, based entirely on what I’ve seen around Washington state. I know that there is significant historical precedent for the use of ‘gift’ as a verb. A blogger named ‘Goofy’ schooled me a bit on my accuracy, so I’ve modified this page.

I shouldn’t say that gift *isn’t* a verb: I should say that, while accepted as technically correct, it is generally rejected for all but the most informal uses because other more accurate words exist.
It’s true that Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage says that ‘there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the verb ‘gift’.’ If you read the article in full, though, it goes on to say that:
“There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the verb gift. It is, however, an uncommon word, and an unpopular one as well. Unless you happen to be either Scottish or a gossip columnist, you probably won’t have much occasion to use it.”
Basically it’s usage as a verb is a colloquialism obviated by the expansion of the language and the fact that widespread literacy has allowed widespread usage of clearer compound verb-phrases.
Take the usage of ‘obsolete’ as a verb. The OED lists it as an obscure transitional verb, so it’s not technically *wrong* to use it, but saying ‘it became obsolete’ or ‘it is obsolete’ is generally agreed to be clearer than saying ‘it was obsoleted’ or ‘it has been obsoleted’.

I think older usages like these are being revived because some feel it adds a mystique or feeling of conciseness to descriptions of otherwise ordinary events. I have seen this especially around the West Coast. Except in some poetic cases I think that good writers do this through description and context, not through using obscure or outstanding words. According to the MWDEU, usage panelists agree ‘by nine-to-one margin[s].’

My tendency is to be a butt-head and call lots of names and make passive-aggressive jabs.That is very lame of me. So I won’t say that this is stupid. I’ll say that it sounds stupid, because it is unclear, and there are a bunch of other, more clear ways to say the same thing. For one reason or another people ignore the more clear ways and go with the less-accurate colloquialism. It’s not technically wrong, though, and if people want to do that, that’s fine.