Monday, February 3, 2014

Grammar Girl to the Rescue: Versing

In honor of the Super Bowl, here's a relatively new word that is
driving some parents batty: 
versing.

Have you heard it? Instead of saying "Seattle is playing Denver in the Super Bowl," some kids would say "Seattle is versing Denver in the Super Bowl."Versing appears to be an age-related word rather than a regionalism (expression of a geographic region):
People say 
versing everywhere, but they're nearly always kids.
It may have started in New York about 30 years ago and then spread in the 1990s because of video games. 

3 comments:

  1. I, have never said versing, but I know of lots of people who do. And like it says, it is mostly only kids. I never really thought to read its origin and how it came to be, but anyways, it is interesting.

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  2. I have said "versing" a ton of times, but I never new that was improper grammar. Very interesting.

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  3. I usually don't say versing but I didn't know that it was incorrect. I will refrain from saying it in the future.

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