Namely, the language tends to resist changing a word into something that already exists. Thus, the brand names Skype and Google easily give rise to the verbs skyping and googling, respectively. You can "gun someone down" but you would not "pistol someone down." You can "hammer a nail" but you wouldn't "screwdriver a screw." You can "milk a cow" but you can't "egg a chicken."įortunately, you can search the web to determine if something has become common usage, but be sure to use canonical or at least well-vetted sources (newspapers, books, articles, etc), not chat, street talk, or forums… which are more prone to slang and unconventional language use.Īs others have mentioned, English does have a great tendency to change words into whatever part of speech is required, including verbification. You can "phone, fax, or text me" but you can't "cell, smartphone, or iPhone me" - Strange right? Wait, it gets crazier - You can "bus someone" across town, but you wouldn't "plane someone" across the country. It is simply a matter of when it becomes common enough usage to become acceptable. Honestly, there are no rules that determine when a noun can become a verb. That is simply by convention simply because one came into common usage, while the other… hasn't. Even "Skype someone" is somewhat new and would likely only be considered acceptable usage in informal circles. Yes, you can Skype someone, but you won't likely hear "chat someone" in correct usage.
So specifically answering your question. What you are talking about is called " Conversion" in linguistics (turning one form of a word into another) and more specifically "Verbification" in the case you are asking about (changing non-verbs into verbs).
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