The Verbing of Certain Food Nouns

The verbing of nouns (and, indeed, other parts of speech) is a phenomenon that has gained momentum in recent years, though it can be traced back to ancient Greek. Some deplorable examples include the fact that Olympic athletes now "medal", mountain climbers "summit", and apartments can be "applianced." I heard an even more deplorable (though perhaps debatable) example of the verbing of a preposition from a southern Californian referring to the recreational activity of "4-bying". This is the sport of driving 4-wheel-drive vehicles over desert terrain, flattening plants that may have taken centuries to establish themselves, and hapless reptiles. (The construction "4-by-4" is mathematically dubious, since "by" often connotes multiplication; "4-by-4" is commonly written "4x4". But 4x4=16; 16 of what?)

Alas, it is impossible to stop the march of usage, so I surrender to the verbing of several food nouns.

Waffle: to be indecisive, to change one's mind. (Some recipes for waffles.)

The Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, in which a two-level freeway collapsed, verbed the noun pancake.
Pancake: to collapse catastrophically, compressing anything between floors or levels.

I propose verbing the noun "French toast".
French toast: to suffer a sunburn that is invisible under normal clothing, usually as a result of topless sunbathing on the Riviera.


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