Anthimeria

Examples

• I'll unhair thy head. (Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, II, v.)
• The thunder would not peace at my bidding. (Shakespeare, King Lear, IV, vi.)
• Me, dictionary-ing heavily, "Where was the one they were watching?" (Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa)

Anthimeria is common in English. For example, "chill" was originally a noun, a synonym for "cold", but has become a verb, with meanings "to make cold" and, more recently, "to relax". An early example of this usage is in The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit 'Rapper's Delight': "There's... a time to break and a time to chill/ To act civilized or act real ill".

Medal has found its use verbally.

Slash

A more unusual case of anthimeria is displayed not through a change in lexical category but a change in form altogether. The punctuation mark '/' was originally used to juxtapose related words or phrases, such as a 'friend/roommate', meaning that the referred person is both a friend and a roommate. The symbol '/' (technically, named "virgule") is often pronounced 'slash', and now often used as a kind of conjunction or conjunctive adverb: "emergence of a new conjunction/conjunctive adverb (let alone one stemming from a punctuation mark) is like a rare-bird sighting in the world of linguistics: an innovation in the slang of young people embedding itself as a function word in the language".

The meaning of the virgule, pronounced "slash" and written '/', has evolved into multiple contextual uses, including "distinguishing between (a) the activity that the speaker or writer was intending to do or should have been doing, and (b) the activity that the speaker or writer actually did or anticipated they would do...".

• "I went to class slash caught up on Game of Thrones."
• "Does anyone care if my cousin comes and visit slash stays with us Friday night?"
• "Has anyone seen my moccasins anywhere? Slash were they given to someone to wear home ever?"

Temporary and permanent usage

Some anthimeria is a fad or nonce usage. Other words have become permanent additions to English vocabulary, as with 'chill'. 'Slash' also appears to be developing into a permanent conjunction.

For example, for a few weeks after Clint Eastwood's speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention, Eastwooding meant talking to an empty chair, but this usage quickly disappeared.

Citations

General sources

• Baldrick, Chris. 2008. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press. New York. .
• Corbett, Edward P. J. and Connors, Robert J. 1999. Style and Statement. Oxford University Press. New York, Oxford. .
• Forsyth, Mark. 2014. The Elements of Eloquence. Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Publishing. New York. .

References

1. Corbett, Edward P. J. ''Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student''. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
2. Jay Heinrichs. (6 August 2013). "Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion". Crown Publishing.
3. Corbett and Connors, 1999. p.64
4. Corbett and Connors, 1999. p.65
5. Yagoda, Ben. (9 July 2006). "Language: The moving parts of speech". The New York Times.
6. [[Macmillan Education]] . .[https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/medal.html]. Macmillan Dictionary/ medal
7. Curzan, Anne. "Slash: Not Just a Punctuation Mark Anymore". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
8. 'Slash' has been used to "link a second related thought or clause to the first" as well as simply "introduc[ing] an afterthought that is also a topic shift". A few examples include:Ann Curzon, [http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/04/24/slash-not-just-a-punctuation-mark-anymore/ "Slash: Not Just a Punctuation Mark Anymore"], blog post April 24, 2013
9. Sword, Helen. (October 27, 2012). "Mutant Verbs". The New York Times.