Since we’re heading into the festive season, and since I’m slowly emerging from my fever fog, let’s celebrate with a silly word game.
Think of a name that doubles as a verb.
That’s it, basically. The verb name can be a full name, nickname, or homophone; the verb can be present tense, past tense, slang, a gerund, whatever. As long as the name can plausibly be used as a verb in a sentence, and at least one other person has heard the name, it counts. Names that work when pronounced with thick regional accents may be acceptable if they make us laugh.
I’ll start with a few easy ones:
1. Bob
2. Rob
3. Will
4. Sue
5. Mary
Just so you know, I have 220 more. I’ll post some of them over the holidays.
And no, I’m not obsessive-compulsive. I just have a friend named Snart, who knows I’m a grammar geek and helpless to resist semantic revelry. Blame, or credit, her for this game.
42 responses so far ↓
Kate // December 12, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Carrie
Patti // December 12, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Mike
Patti // December 12, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Forget the one-at-a-time thing:
Candy
Dawn
Len
Hans
Suze
Bent
Carol
Jim // December 12, 2006 at 10:19 pm
“Bent”?
snart // December 12, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Do you really, really, want me to start? I’ve been collecting these for years. Okay, let’s start with names with which Meg is quite familiar: Mark, Frank, Sally and Pa. Two I came up with yesterday, yes, new on my list, are Ty and Cleave. I’ll desist for the moment and let others have their fun. I do love this game! (oh, and don’t forget Eileen and her cousin Irene!)
Patti // December 12, 2006 at 11:10 pm
Yup–”Bent” is a perfectly good Danish/Swedish/Norwegian name. Ooo, and let’s add Per (pronounced “pair”).
jim // December 12, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Phil (I’m thinking “Pheeeeeel” in a Speedy Gonzalez accent)
Luke
Paul
Nick
Pat
Jimmy
Peter
Jack
And (ahem) maybe Punch (as in “…and Judy”
That’s me for now
leslie colvin // December 13, 2006 at 12:20 am
Terry, or Tarry depending upon your spelling preference, my cousin uses the “a”.
Patti // December 13, 2006 at 2:08 am
Drew
Kit
May
Iz
Patti // December 13, 2006 at 2:28 am
Sharon, Karen, Carolyn, Clare, Russell, Don, Colin, Bill
cfajohnson // December 13, 2006 at 4:40 am
Rose
Hope
Bee
Gage
Carol
Gussy
Claud
Mark
Usher
Blossom
Flo
May
Pat
Kid
Luke (over there)
jim // December 13, 2006 at 7:41 am
Patti’s talk of Danish/Swedish/Norwegian names reminded me that I have a Dutch friend called Niels, but I’m not sure if we’re allowed to conjugate in this game (thought wouldn’t that violate our Right of Assembly if not?).
Oh - and Harry, of course.
Patti // December 13, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Jim–as long as it’s purely verbal.
Con
Bette
Matt
Ben (past tense “to be” as my kid says it and spells it)
Paige
Ken
Shel
Sean
Mad
Fan
Moll
Josh
Rowan (we are allowed the dropped “g” in “ing,” right?)
Winn
Doug
Dot
Chase
Chance
Lance
Wayne
Liv
Flip
Rip
Owen
Claus
Rex
Grant
Chuck (never name your dog thus–imagine “Up, Chuck!”
Bud
Meg // December 13, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Wow. I mean wow. You go, gang. I’m going to grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy this for a while.
susan // December 13, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Pierce
Peers
Peg.
Damn, this is addictive. I’ll admit at first I rolled my eyes and said, these people don’t have enough to do. Playing words games when they could be gleefully picking out lay/lie crimes in the book they’re reading and making the pencilled corrections.
Luce.
Roger.
Patti // December 13, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Cher
Raine
Brett (looong ago meant to bite)
Blair
Floss
Glad
Cat
Joceline
Gil
Robin
…make it stop! I ground to a halt in the pet food aisle of the grocery store this morning to scrawl names on the back of the grocery list.
leslie colvin // December 13, 2006 at 5:41 pm
Mame, as in Auntie of course — ouch.
Judge
Patti // December 13, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Taylor!
leslie colvin // December 13, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Bea, from the irregular family
Trace, like the fella on the news
jim // December 13, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Guess what we did all day at work today…
Neil/Neal (I somehow missed this when suggesting Niels earlier, but it was famously early when I did that)
Spike
Sid (as in “siddown!”
Di
Pad
Ade
Stu
Wayne
Jel
Maeve (”Maeve yer arse!”
Ali (we reckon this can pass as “ally” if you have a…weird accent)
Leanne (Jamaican for “lean”
Don
Moe
Deanie (which can be mispronounced “deny”
Rhys (Welsh for “race”
Ang (if we can drop ings then we can drop Hs)
Fun! More interactive games, Ms. Author, more!!
Patti // December 14, 2006 at 1:23 am
Barry
Marian
Dirk (to be stabbed with, well, a dirk)
Gem/Jem
Belle
Ralph
Van
Wink
snart // December 14, 2006 at 1:51 am
How about Rex and Link?
leslie colvin // December 14, 2006 at 4:12 am
Russell, the leaves I guess
leslie colvin // December 14, 2006 at 4:16 am
Ollie — since we’re dropping the ing — as in the move you do with a skateboard
Kelly // December 14, 2006 at 11:43 am
How about “Chip” and “Rock”. Would “Doug” count?
Patti // December 14, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Ray
Rush
Troop
Rick
Tom
Jess
Stone
Meg // December 14, 2006 at 5:18 pm
All right. Questions:
Rick - is that pronounced with a sharp South African accent, as in “Don’t Rick the car on that sharp curve”?
Jess - I hear this as a qualifier more than a verb. “Don’t worry, it’s Jess me gettin’ some vittels from the fridge.”
Patti // December 14, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Rick –I like the South African accent bit and would love to say “oh yes, that’s what I thought,” but I didn’t, so it’s making haystacks.
Jess–if’n yer gittin’ vittles, yep, it’s one a them qual’fiers, but if’n yer a falcon it’s gittin’ them long straps (jesses, or rather, jisses) ‘tached t’yer legs.
susan // December 14, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Rush, Troop, Stone?
Friends of yours, Patti?
Patti // December 14, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Friends, no, but out there in the great wide world of names, yes: Rush (thank you, Mr. Limbaugh), Stone (thank you, Mr. Phillips of Dateline NBC), Troop (yes, in that general rush to have surnames as first names this was done to the child of a grad school acquaintance, who added to the atrocity by conspiring to have all of the first names in the family begin with T, including the pets’).
Blossom
Rhoda (comes complete with indirect article–pushing it perhaps?)
Bern
Otto (if we haven’t accepted this one yet, we otto)
Marlin (the process for creating the yarn for marled socks?)
Pen
This may only stop with pharmaceutical intervention or a large rubber mallet.
Tammy // December 16, 2006 at 6:22 pm
I used to work with a Dusty Dodge. His name always cracked me up.
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Amanda // September 9, 2007 at 5:14 pm
My friend and I compiled a list ages ago for fun. Ignore all the “new” notices– it was from our website. Here it is:
# Bea *new!*
# Bette *new!*
# Bill
# Blossom
# Bob
# Brandy *new!*
# Brooke (brook- to endure)
# Candy *new!*
# Carey
# Carol
# Chase
# Cher
# Chip
# Chuck
# Cy *new!*
# Dawn *new!*
# Dick
# Drew
# Don *new!*
# Dot *new!*
# Dov *new!*
# Duke *new!*
# Fawn *new!*
# Grace *new!*
# Grant *new!*
# Harry
# Hope
# Jack
# Jewel *new!*
# Jimmy
# Josh
# Ken (to perceive) *new!*
# Mark / Marc
# Matt *new!*
# Max
# Moe
# Neal
# Nick
# Paige
# Pat *new!*
# Peg
# Pepper *new!*
# Peter
# Phil
# Pierce
# Ralph
# Reed
# Rob
# Rose
# Shai *new!*
# Skip
# Stu
# Sue
# Taylor
# Ty
# Wade
# Wayne
# Will
# Wink
Meg // September 10, 2007 at 7:33 am
Well done, Amanda. A good start. Keep going…
Jeff // October 22, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Putin
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Trina // January 12, 2008 at 2:40 am
Hey….I also came from a family of 7. Six older brothers, then me….the youngest and only girl.
Keep in mind we were all born between 1940 and 1955. Ready?
Teddy
Timmy
Terry
Tommy
Todd
Thaddeus
Trina
So there. We all love our names. Especially Thaddeus and me.
Trina
gloria // February 29, 2008 at 4:00 am
My Favorite….. Trip
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bryan // March 23, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Blaise
Brook
Eddy
Brent (outdated past tense of burn)
Art
Blair
Gill
Scout
Jane // April 18, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Ii am searching for a verb name for my second child due in Dec 2008. My son’s name is Chase and our last name is a verb, Yells. I thought it would be cute to continue to have a family of verb names. Any thoughts, I am leaning toward Paige if its a girl at the moment……..
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