| 词组 | gift |
| 释义 | gift The use of gift as a verb has drawn scorn and even expressions of despair from some commentators on language. Their criticism is directed specifically at its use in contexts where it serves essentially as a synonym of present, as in "He gifted her with a new coat," although a number of the critics acknowledge that such usage dates back to the 17th century. Even older is the use of gift to mean "to endow with some power or attribute," which was first recorded in the 1500s. The OED includes many citations for both the "endow" and "present" senses of gift: • ... the inspiration with which we writers are gifted —Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, 1749 (OED) • The Regent Murray gifted all the church Property to Lord Sempill —J. C. Lees, Abbey of Paisley, 1878 (OED) Gift did not become a controversial verb until it began to appear with some regularity in American newspapers and magazines. Its adoption by Hollywood gossip columnists probably did nothing to help its reputation: • Glen Ford gifted Eleanor Powell with a brand new kitchen —Movieland, March 1951 • He gifted her with a large heart-shaped diamond — Louella O. Parsons, syndicated column in Springfield (Mass.) Daily News, 28 July 1958 Most of the criticism of this verb has been from American sources. Usage panelists in particular cannot abide it—the major panels have consistently rejected it by better than a nine to one margin. The British seem to regard it with somewhat greater tolerance, perhaps because of its long history of reputable use in Scotland (the OED labels the "present" sense "chiefly Scottish," and much of our own evidence for it is from Scottish sources). Dictionaries, both British and American, treat it as standard. Its detractors say the usual things about the impropriety of using a noun as a verb, but that argument obviously does not stand up either against more than 400 years of historical evidence or against the many noun-verb pairs that draw absolutely no critical attention whatever. 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. See also free gift. |
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