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I'm looking for a single word alternative to "copy & pasted" in:

I copy & pasted that into the document.

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Mostly just copied will do, since it pretty much implies that you made the copy in order to use it somewhere else. – FumbleFingers Dec 16 '11 at 19:03
Well, there's copypasta. – Gnawme Dec 16 '11 at 22:44
We're really trying to avoid using this site for "single word requests." If you have a particularly interesting problem to solve, all we ask is that you put a bit of effort and research into the question. See: meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/1654/… or meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/2160/… – Robert Cartaino♦ Dec 19 '11 at 17:46
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@RobertCartaino - I understand, an won't ask any more. On the other hand, remove the tag, or keep it but when selected alert the user they are not permitted to post these types of questions. Changing rules without alerting users first is not the best thing in the world to encouraging people to ask questions. Also, 5 ups, no downs and a favorite in a relatively short time... some people thought it was interesting an no one though it was a bad question. – Justin808 Dec 19 '11 at 19:39

closed as general reference by FumbleFingers, kiamlaluno, Robert Cartaino♦ Dec 19 '11 at 17:46

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3 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

"Copied" is perfectly apt alone.

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up vote 8 down vote

I would prefer "pasted" over "copied": I pasted it into the document.

Pasting implies that the object of the paste was previously copied, while it is entirely possible to copy something and never do anything else with it.

But surely if you used either "copied" or "pasted" by itself, the meaning would be clear.

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You're not incorrect, but using copied in the sentence structure given also implies the object was pasted: "copied into that document". And my preference for "copied" is because it has meant "duplicated in another place" for hundreds of years. Monks "copied" texts into beautifully illuminated books. "Pasted" is much more of a neologism. – Jonathan VM Dec 16 '11 at 23:31
+1 Both copied and pasted alone are fine and imply the other, but I'd also choose pasted as it seems more direct. Also when monks copy stuff, it's not an exact digital copy like when I Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V some text. (Neologisms can be well suited for new activities.) – Hugo Dec 17 '11 at 9:51
@JonathanVM I rather suspect that copying and pasting is a newer concept than cutting and pasting, which existed long before computers. I still remember finding a class agent's speech in the trash at a college reunion. It was typewritten, and entire paragraphs had been moved around with the help of a pair of scissors and a roll of tape. – phoog Dec 20 '11 at 17:42
up vote 1 down vote

If you really need a single word, copy-paste has enough antecedents online and in mainstream publications to support its use.

By launching with a circulation equal to or greater than the market leader, its new paper would immediately start getting advertisements which allowed it to break even within four years in most markets. This allowed it to copy-paste this strategy with uncanny precision in multiple markets -- Rajasthan in 1996, Gujarat in 2003 and Punjab in 2006.

--Forbes, "Bucking the Times of India"

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Copy-pasted is fine, but a single copied or pasted seems more elegant to me. – Hugo Dec 17 '11 at 9:53
@Hugo True, but neither captures the entire process; they both imply actions that someone not of the copy-paste generation might miss. "I copied it into the document." "Isn't that plagiarism, young fella?" "I pasted the quote." "Sounds sloppy to me, young man." – Gnawme Dec 17 '11 at 16:34
Would the past tense of "copy-paste" be "copy-pasted" or "copied-pasted"? – phoog Dec 20 '11 at 17:38
@phoog It appears copy-pasted is more prevalent, and it makes sense if you're capturing the entire process as a single compound word. (Besides -- copied-pasted is awfully pedantic, don't you think?) – Gnawme Dec 20 '11 at 17:52
Actually "copied-pasted" sounds more natural to me, but I attribute that not to pedantry but rather to my inability to think of "copy-paste" as a single word. Perhaps that will change eventually (and perhaps around the time that it begins to be spelled "copypaste"). – phoog Dec 20 '11 at 17:59

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