So how does a word like informate, or my favourite buttle come into being? Back-formation.
What is that you may ask? It’s a handy little way to create a new verb or a handy little way to drive the grammar/word police in your life nuts (go on and conversate with someone about it, you’ll see what I mean). Basically, someone created a shorter word from a longer one – and that eventually gets accepted into our language.
That’s how edit came into being – from the word editor (d’uh), it filled a gap in English because apparently, no-one knew what the verb for what an editor does was supposed to be. So, voila edit became accepted.
I’m a bit partial to buttle myself. I’m dying to use it in a sentence somehow. It just sounds so cute. Conversate however, I can do without. Shudders.
