Verbs are at their best showing action: anticipate, cheer, fumble, recover, shock, crush, irritate, trounce, bushwhack, embarrass, defeat, and reflect. My subconscious is at work today. I still love the Denver Broncos and have for years. But I think all those strong verbs describe their awful Super Bowl loss. I am still healing.
Speaking of weak performance, verbs are boring in some of their weakest ‘to-be’ forms: is, was, were. Some professors would encourage us to eliminate the to-be verbs in our writing. We need to push for greater substance and strength. The web is filled with lists of strong verbs to aid writing. And for college seniors “100 Top Action Verbs to Use to Write Powerful, Effective Resume Subheads” by Michele Rooney may be of interest to you. After all, employers want people of action, not just employees with titles and awards. Be careful, do not ‘verbify’ your resume too much.
For many of us our first exposure to verbs was watching ABC’s Schoolhouse Rocks! on Saturday mornings. We would wait for short breaks between cartoons to catch the latest Thomas G. Yohe creation. “Verb, That’s What’s Happenin’” taught us about verbs. The non-stop action, catchy tune and colorful animation caught our attention and yelled “Action!” Verbs had it. You have seen Schoolhouse Rocks!, right? If not, you missed out on lyrics like these:
“I get my thing in action. Verb!
To sing, to feel, to live…Verb! That’s what’s happenin’!
I put my heart in action. Verb!
To run, to go, to get, to give…Verb! You’re what’s happenin’! …
To search, to find, to have, to hold… Verb! To be bold!…
I think, I plot, I plan, I dream…
I make, I write, I dance, I sing…
I run, I ride, I swim, I fly!…”
And this is only part of the lyrics. They really could cram the knowledge into those three minute educational shorts.
The song also taught “I can take a noun and bend it.” What? Cool, verbing a noun. What a concept. In fact, some people are so outstanding or appalling in their character and action, we can verb their names (the ultimate noun) and know exactly what it means. Agreed? No? Ok. Some examples:
“She sure Gaga-ed it.” (This indicates a person’s outfit was outrageous.)
“He Bono-ed that cause.” (This signifies a person believes in and stands for something fully.)
“He Ford-ed that up!” (This denotes a person chose inexcusable words for his speech and offended many.)
“She Cyrus-ed all over that!” (This designates a person’s actions ruined another event. And he or she is a train wreck repeating bad decisions over and over). We may be able to replace this with Bieber-ed soon.
What a thought. Having your reputation so strong people verb it and know what it means. Wow, making an impact on others so much your name becomes a definition for an action verb.
Everyone feel free to start verbing people’s names. Enjoy. But I ask one thing. I DO NOT want to hear this in the halls any time soon, “Man, that team really Bronco-ed it last night in that game!”
Please? .