There are some words – an erudite few – that serve double functions for us. That is, they can be used as verbs or nouns. It all depends on the context.

For example, the word “verb”

A. verb, verb tr.: To turn a word into a verb. “I can verb nouns.”
noun, verb tr.: To turn a word into a noun. “Please accept this invite to noun any verbs.”
list, verb tr.: To list something. “I just listed three verbs.”

Confused yet?

It’s no wonder that you are. My apologies for all the meta-ing going on here, but don’t let all this verbing and nouning bother you. This kind of transition happens all the time. Language would be unrecognizable if we forbade it. It keeps our lexicon fresh.

The world is more complex than we can imagine. Transitioning, in humans or in languages, is completely normal and common. Even the word “transition” serves as a noun as well as a verb.

The various dictionaries that are available to us, add new words each year. Many new words are slang among certain segments of society. The rate of assimilation is astonishing.

Here are a few you’ll recognize: band, ball, chill, dice, double, feel, freak, finance, grate, hate, lick, like, look, love, swallow, saw, spice, smell, taste, toe, turn, trade… what other examples can you add? Word nerds like me and you excel at this task. This chore isn’t a chore (see what I did there?)

Here’s a double-duty word that already happening around the country and/or creeping up to chill our hearts soon –

primary

Writers are often the mothers of invention and foster a wonder of words. There are several double-function words embedded in this sign… Can you find them? Does “find” fit into the category?

Behold my motto, peeps: