"usage has no fixed boundaries."
"The other half of the job is to help the language grow by welcoming any immigrant that will bring strength or color."
"the laws of usage are relative, bending with the taste if the lawmaker."
"spoken language is looser than the written language."
"Jargon is flooding our daily life and language."
After reading the chapter I immediately thought about gossip/tabloid language that people use when talking about celebrities. There seems to be no fixed boundaries and authors often use phrases and words that do not exist to make a point. Tabloids and gossip blogs have a very conversational tone that draws in readers. Readers know what they are getting and they expect colorful and quirky language. Just as many companies use acronyms, tabloids use uni-names.
Brad and Angelina - Bradgelina
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez - Bennifer
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner - BenJen and Garfleck
Tom Cruise and Katie Homes - TomKat
Bill and Hilary Clinton - Billary
Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon - Gyllenspoon
Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston - Vinnifer
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline - Spederline
These names are convenient and fun.
"The only trouble with accepting words that entered the language overnight is that they often leave just as abruptly."
It is not uncommon for current words adapt new meanings. For example, we all know a wolf is a member of the dog family but in the world of teenagers and entertainment it can carry an additional meaning. A wolf can be a way to describe a roughneck teenager and a wolfpack is a group of troublemaking teenagers. These phrases were made widely popular again by the movie The Hangover.
"Nouns now turn overnight into verbs."
I'm sure we can think of a million examples where nouns have been made into verbs. However, i found some fun ones where celebrity names have been turned into fun verbs.
Thunderlutz_Blog
Another example:
"In a single work day, we might head a task force, eye an opportunity, nose around for good ideas,mouth a greeting, elbow an opponent, strong-arm a colleague, shoulder the blame, stomach a loss, and finally hand in our resignation. What we're doing with all those body parts is called verbing--using nouns (or occasionally other parts of speech) as verbs"
Another example:
"In a single work day, we might head a task force, eye an opportunity, nose around for good ideas,mouth a greeting, elbow an opponent, strong-arm a colleague, shoulder the blame, stomach a loss, and finally hand in our resignation. What we're doing with all those body parts is called verbing--using nouns (or occasionally other parts of speech) as verbs"
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