密歇根新闻广播 gift咋变成了动词

A few weeks ago on Reddit, someone posted a clip from the Ellen Degeneres Show. The guest was Candice Payne, the Chicago woman who rented hotel rooms for homeless people during last month's polar vortex.

The post's headline was, Ellen gifts $50k to Candice Payne, Chicago woman who help over 122 homeless people during brutal¹ cold winter last week.

In the comments below the post, one user asked the question, When did give, the verb, give way to gift, the noun, becoming the verb?

Gift as a verb has been around for a few hundred years, meaning to hand over something as a present. The Oxford² English Dictionary has evidence of it back into the 17th century. Here's an example from 1639 Scotland: The recovery of a parcel of ground, which the Queen had gifted to Mary Levinston.

There is a useful distinction between give and gift, because you can give things that aren't gifts. For example, you can give someone a cold. You can give thanks. A police officer can give you a speeding ticket.

Despite that, there are people who really don't like gift as a verb. In this 2014 article from The Atlantic, Megan Garber calls it the moist of the action-word world. She says, Not all of us hate it, but those of us who do do so with a fervor³ that is excessive and irrational⁴ and, language being what it is, 100 percent correct.

Garber goes on to talk about how gift as a verb got a new life in the 1920s when, in the United States, we saw the introduction of the gift tax. Once we started taxing gifting, people started talking about gifting.

In the 1980s and 90s, gifting takes off, which we suspect is why it feels like a newer expression to some of us. It also could have something to do with the 1995 Seinfeld episode "The Label Maker⁵" and its hilarious⁶ discussion of re-gifting.

Can you gift something? Do you know a chronic⁷ re-gifter? Let us know!

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

4 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

7 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。