It'snotanewphenomenon,buthaveyounoticedhowmanynounsarebeingusedasverbs?Weallusethem,oftenwithoutnoticingwhatwe'redoing.

Iwasarrangingtomeetsomeonefordinnerlastweek,andIsaid“I’llpencilitinmydiary”,andmyfriendsaid“Youcaninkitin”,meaningthatitwasafirmarrangementnotatentativeone!

Manyofthesenewverbsarelinkedtonewtechnology.Anobviousexampleisthewordfax,whichisashorteningoffacsimileoriginally,anexactcopyofabookordocument.Weallgotusedtosendingandreceivingfaxes,andthensoonstartedtalkingaboutfaxingsomethingandpromisingwe'dfaxitimmediately.So,nounsturnintoverbsintwoeasystages.Thenalongcameemail,andweweresoonallemailingeachothermadly.Howdidwedowithoutit?Icanhardlyimaginelifewithoutmydailyemails.

Emailremindsme,ofcourse，ofmycomputeranditssoftware,whichhasproducedanothercoupleofnewverbs.OnmycomputerIcanbookmarkthosepagesfromtheWorldWideWebthatIthinkI'llwanttolookatagain,thussavingalltheeffortofrememberingtheiraddressesandcallingthemupfromscratch.IcandothesamethingonmyPC,butthereIdon'tbookmark;Ifavorite—comingfrom“favoritepages”,sotheverbisderivedfromanadjectivenotanoun．Iwasn’treallysurewhetherpeoplesaidthis，butsomeonetoldmerecentlythattheyhadfavoritedasiteIwaslookingforandsotheycouldeasilygivemeitsaddress.

Inthelate1980sInoticedthatlotsofmyfriendshadacquiredpagers,andkeptsayingthingslike“I’llpageyouassoonasIknowwhattimewe’remeeting”.Theycouldn'tsayittome,though;1refusedtohaveone．Somychildrenboughtmeamobilephone,nowknownsimplyasamobileandIhadtolearnyetmorenewverbs.Icanmessagesomeone,thatis,Icanleaveamessage（eitherspokenorwritten）forthemontheirphone．OrIcantextthem,writeafewwordssuggestingwhenandwheretomeet,forexample.HowlongwillitbebeforeIcanmobilethem,thatis,phonethemusingmymobile?Ihaven’theardthatverbyet,butI’msureIwillsoon.PerhapsI’llstartusingitmyself!　“I’llpencilitinmydiary”inthesecondparagraphprobablymeans Awebsiteaddresscanbeeasilyfoundifithasbeen＿____Whichofthefollowinghasnotbeenusedasaverb,yet?Thebesttitl