Timeline for Is it ever correct to use "to English" as a verb?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 11, 2022 at 8:54 | comment | added | Highstaker | Basically, this question can be asked about any language name, where "I can't [language] today" is a phrase I've seen in many conversations and it meant something like "My brain is so tired today, I can't even speak my native language (or a language I'm normally fluent in) at this point". I presume it's highly colloquial, and I highly doubt that this meaning has made its way into an official dictionary. But who knows, languages evolve. | |
| Apr 14, 2015 at 11:49 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglish/status/587945689231052801 | ||
| Apr 6, 2015 at 6:20 | comment | added | MASQ | Agreed, I could probably have found it if I'd searched a dictionary directly, instead I searched through google (which always works for more difficult words) and found nothing relevant. Cut me some slack, I'm new here :) And I was mainly wondering whether the usage was as tongue-in-cheek as it seemed, or people were actually using an obscure meaning of the word, that's why I asked. | |
| Apr 6, 2015 at 1:08 | comment | added | isarandi | It's a tongue-in-cheek thing, like "I forgot how to cat". | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 18:11 | comment | added | Jim | The answers below not withstanding, I would beg you to please never do it. | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 16:41 | comment | added | ChrisW | gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/01/25 | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 16:32 | answer | added | B Gaurav | timeline score: 0 | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 12:36 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | As you can see from the answers already given (which you could have found on your own by just consulting a dictionary—for that reason I have, for now, voted to put the question on hold as not displaying any research effort), to English has a few established but different meanings. You should probably clarify if you’re talking specifically about the use of to English in the sense of ‘to speak/use English’. Since this usage of to English has not generally made it into the dictionaries, I would say that’s an on-topic question. As it stands right now, though, it’s sadly probably off-topic. | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:45 | answer | added | Brian Donovan | timeline score: 8 | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:30 | review | Close votes | |||
| Apr 6, 2015 at 23:58 | |||||
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:30 | answer | added | bobro | timeline score: 5 | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:20 | answer | added | aadivrirya | timeline score: -2 | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:08 | review | First posts | |||
| Apr 5, 2015 at 13:01 | |||||
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:07 | comment | added | Frank | Yes - see a number of dictionary definitions having English as a verb at thefreedictionary.com/English | |
| Apr 5, 2015 at 11:04 | history | asked | MASQ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |