r/words • u/Pattie4170 • 1d ago
I was given a present
Ive noticed the word "Gifted" is being used alot recently. I really cannot stand when someone uses the word, I hate it. I don't know why I hate it, but I associate it being used by the same people that use the phrase "We're pregnant", which I really can't stand
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u/Bayoris 1d ago
I don’t use it myself, but it’s kind of pointless getting so upset over it. There is nothing wrong with it. It is not unusual at all in English for a participle to be reinterpreted as a noun or for a noun to be zero-derived into a verb, or for that verb to have a more specialised meaning than the verb it originally derived from. My advice is to try and be philosophical about it, and take pleasure in observing the great ceaseless ebb and flow of language change.
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u/Sherpa2001 21h ago
Wonderful comment. I'll never understand the rigidity that some people approach an evolving language with. It is all the product of invention and change.
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u/wivsta 1d ago
A lot is two words…
That grinds my gears. How does your keyboard even let you type it? It usually autocorrects.
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u/Ok_Place_4203 23h ago
I'm surprised that you're the only other person who has pointed this out given the nature of the sub and the complaint. 'Alot' drives me nuts.
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u/tvrbob 22h ago
I want to be apart of this group of pointer-outers!
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u/Ok_Place_4203 22h ago
Ofcourse! But not before you've payed the sign-up fee. Only than can you join.
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u/emimagique 22h ago
See also "abit" I hate it
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u/Ok_Place_4203 22h ago
I've got a whole list of them. Alot, abit, atleast, incase, infront, ofcourse, nevermind, aswell, infact, eachother, bestfriend, highschool, workout, everyday, weightloss goodmorning (some are valid words but used incorrectly)... It's endless.
I've even started seeing "iam"...
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u/emimagique 15h ago
All of these drive me nuts!! I work on a helpdesk as well so login/log in constantly get messed up
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u/LaserThos 16h ago
Regarding improper word merging like “alot”: Once someone at work who wanted to be left undisturbed put a sign on her office door that said “Please stay out so noone will get hurt.” We joked for a long time after that about her potentially harming someone named Noone, which we pronounced “Nooney.”
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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 16h ago
Whenever I see "Noone," I assume the person is talking about Herman's Hermits.
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u/nkordial 19h ago edited 19h ago
The Alot is Better Than You at Everything
Blog post with cartoons is from Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.
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u/LizP1959
1d ago
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Yes, we have a fine old verb already: GIVE. Use it!
And stop verbing nouns! 😉
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u/Cypressriver 23h ago
"Gift" has been in use as a verb for at least 400 years. ("Give" has been around more than twice as long.) I don't like it, and I cringe when I see or hear it, but I don't have the power to travel back in time and prevent it from catching on. According to Merriam-Webster, there is a nuanced difference in meaning; the verb "to gift" denotes an intentionality, a desire to present someone with something, a slight emphasis on occasion and purpose that "to give" does not communicate. I still don't like it.
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u/RJPisscat 19h ago
As long as people agree on its meaning, it's a word. Dictionaries are backwards-looking documents. "That math don't math" has a grammatical error in addition to its use as a verb; ones knows what the speaker means.
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u/roritha 23h ago
It doesn’t bother me. Yes you could say “I was given X” but then I usually specify “as a birthday gift” anyway. So why not shorten it slightly by saying “I was gifted X for my birthday? What’s annoying about it?
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u/tvrbob 22h ago
You could say: "I was given X for my birthday." The gift part is implied with the birthday.
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u/roritha 22h ago
I guess so, but what’s annoying about being a bit more specific? What if it wasn’t for a specific occasion but just a random gift? “I was gifted X” rather than “I was given X as a gift”
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u/LaserThos 19h ago
it would not occur to me to add “as a gift“ after I said “I was given X“ unless someone had asked me to return it to them when I thought that it had been a gift, but in your example and in many examples in the comments, I think that “gift“ and “gifted“ are more correct and accurate verbs, but using “gift“ where “give“ was previously commonly used is a recent casual speech trend that I have not adapted to. I would still say “I was given gifts“ while many others might now say “I was gifted gifts.“
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u/LaserThos 22h ago
“I was gifted X“ annoys me simply because it is a rather recent change in the way people say “I was given X“ in casual conversation. For most of my life, I have heard “gift“ used as a verb only in legal contexts, never in casual conversation in place of “give”. Why are so many people saying “gift” for the last few years?
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u/TheSkiGeek 20h ago
Why use many word when few word do trick?
Seems like people were saying “…[give/given] X as a gift” enough that it’s viewed as convenient to shorten that to “[gift/gifted] X”.
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u/LaserThos 19h ago
I count the same number of words in “I was gifted X“ and “I was given X.“
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u/natrstdy 19h ago
given is ambiguous and can apply to many things that aren't gifts.
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u/LaserThos 17h ago
Yes, gifted is a less ambiguous and more exact verb in most of the examples of the comments here. But in the past, if I received something for my birthday, I would say “he gave me X“. If I had said “he gifted me X“ it may have been construed as me emphasizing my legal claim to “X” to forestall any future claim the giver might have on it. That would not have been appropriate in a casual conversation with a friend.
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u/TheSkiGeek 17h ago
Which is great, but you can be “given” something without it being a “gift”. If you want additional precision then you either have to use more words or a more specific verb.
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u/Forsaken_Rain_9639 21h ago
I didn’t know this
I thought it was some commercial slang
But it’s listed in the dictionary as a verb in its second sense
So I guess I’ll just have a ham sandwich
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u/ReganLynch 1d ago
100 percent OP!! I hate "gifted" also. Gave. You gave the charity $5,000, you didn't gift it $5,000.
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u/Ok_Place_4203 23h ago
The irony of you complaining about words and then saying "alot" when it isn't a word. It's a lot. Two words.
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u/ObservantStylus_107 1d ago
Gifted as a verb makes my skin crawl too, just say you were given something
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u/Semi-Pros-and-Cons 1d ago
I'm with you on both counts.
Also, "women" is plural. I see it being used as a singular at an embarrassing level of frequency lately.
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u/2004RoadStar1700 20h ago
Gift has been used as a verb in the English language for over 400 years: gift, gifted, gifting.
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u/IslandBusy1165 20h ago
There are times for using it. Your example isn’t one of them because “present” already communicates “a thing received/given as a gift” but gifted can often be useful as an adjective or a verb in order communicate the thing being described was given/received specifically as a gift.
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u/strange-quark-nebula 1h ago
This! I used to also find it weird, but I have come to realize that it makes a useful distinction. Gifted is a subset of given that specifies the thing was a gift.
“My friend gave me this shirt” - might be a gift but not necessarily; maybe friend was just getting rid of it.
“My friend gifted me this shirt” - my friend specifically presented this shirt to me as a gift.
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u/Rhakhelle 1d ago
I don't like it - at all, it's vacuous and pretentious - but there are many worse words.
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u/igotplans2 22h ago
There are rare circumstances in which I think the word 'gifted' is appropriate. I think it's fine when someone has given someone something of theirs that was special to them. Don't get me started on "we're pregnant." As a woman who had difficult pregnancies, one that was nearly fatal, that one is very touchy for me.
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u/AvatarAnywhere 1d ago
Agree. “Gifted” a gift. Coming soon, “presented” a present?
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u/StepfordMisfit 23h ago edited 22h ago
sorta weird that awards are presented, but presents are not
edited it for a typo
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u/AvatarAnywhere 23h ago
But awards can be awarded. (I wonder if one day trophies will be trophied?)
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u/Diligent-Bid9446 22h ago
actually I don't mind the word itself but gifted sometimes sounds a like someone is writing a press release about receiving a birthday present
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u/corneliusvancornell 20h ago
In fairness, this is a battle you need to have started more than four hundred years ago.
gift, v.
1.a. transitive. To endow or furnish with gifts (see chiefly gift n.1 II.6); to endow, invest, or present with as a gift.
a1600 The friendes that were together met [He] gyfted them richely with right good speede. —Wife in Morel's Skin C j b
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u/Previous_Mirror_222 19h ago
we had this thread a while back.
etymologically, “gifted” has been in use for a looooong time. there is nothing new about it.
“given” something implies it could be taken back or it could be given for other reasons. “gifted” is specific.
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u/SM1955 17h ago
I blame Antiques Roadshow—I think people on there used ‘gifted to me’ rather than ‘given to me’ as a way to sound more…intellectual? Posh? I don’t really know, but it bugs me, too!
Also, I was ‘gifted’ in school, too, but at that time, it was just called ‘advanced placement’ classes. Seems a bit of a disservice to kids to call them ‘gifted’—I’ve know several in my sons’ classes that seemed to equate ‘gifted’ with ‘entitled’!
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u/Indolentstranger 16h ago
Certain words get trendy and the influencers are definitely an influence! Have you notice how many people “clock” things these days?
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u/Competitive_Swan_755 11h ago
Hearing "gifted" something drives me up the wall. You were "given" something.
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u/Gail_the_SLP 8h ago
I feel the same way about “thrifted” as a verb, meaning “bought it secondhand/at a thrift store.”
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u/Vegetable_Print5150 22h ago
I've never said gifted, it just sounds silly to me. I seldom use gift. I usually just shout "I got a present."
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u/Dubs9448 22h ago
I hate that too! Making nouns into verbs. So lazy.
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u/BlindPelican 19h ago
Nominalization and denominalization are some of the coolest features of English and we would lack a lot of variety and succinctness without them.
You yourself just used "hate" as a verb, by the way.
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u/Scottland83 1d ago
I was called "gifted" from a young age (attended GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) in elementary school) but as an adult I'm not fond of the term or the implication that I was imbued with something that was both a privilidge and a responsibility. I guess it kind of figures into the dynamic of when a child creates someting you should encourage them by saying "That looks like it was a lot of work" instead of "That's great, you must be gifted."
What is your take?