My youngest was quick to greet me when I came home from work. Usually the dog greets me first, but today my Cub Scout was ready to tell me about his day. It turns out that for Cubs they played Ultimate Frisbee. The men in our family have been known to throw a mean frisbee, so he needed to let me know how it went.
Dad! We played Ultimate today at Cub Scouts!
Fun, how did it go?
Really good. There were five kids and two leaders, so we versed the leaders and won.
(I tried to minimize a visible flinch when he used the word "versed".)
That sounds like fun!
It was, and after we versed the leaders, One of the grownups and I versed all the rest of the kids. We won that too.
Great. I'm glad you had a good time. (My ears were now ringing, and my head was already starting to hurt.)
How could such offensive things come out of the mouth of such a sweet boy? Now I don't consider myself a master of the English language, but I do love language. I enjoy playing with it, and appreciate those who possess the skills to use it well. Because of that, and the fact that I don't want my children growing up to sound like idiots, I knew I that something needed to be done. It was up to me.
A few minutes later, I attempted to broach the subject. I wasn't too worried, because this FOML is smart, and a good reader and writer. This should be easy.
Hey buddy - You know when you said you "versed" some boys today?
Yeah.
Did you know that "verse" isn't a verb?
It's not?
Nope.
So what am I supposed to say when I'm versing somebody?
Well, you aren't "versing" anybody, you are playing against them.
But in basketball it's the Heat verse the Thunder.
Nope - it's the Heat "versus" the Thunder.
That's what I'm saying!
No, you are saying verse. I'm saying versus.
So it's supposed to be plural?
And that was precise moment I lost my resolve.
In the ongoing battle of MMM vs. the Destruction of the English Language, I'm getting schooled.
Ah, yes.. I too, while hardly a master, appreciate good and proper use of language and flinch at many innocent and not so innocent offenses. Language well used is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately not greatly appreciated by the masses. What we need is more families reading together.
ReplyDeleteClever kid...
ReplyDeleteI don't know triple M. That conversation seemed well "versed" to me!
ReplyDeleteDid he mean that he beat them handily aka pwned them, or did he mean he played against or versus them? Technically, you can use verse as a verb in reference to expressing something in verse IE I versed a poem about my experience playing ultimate Frisbee.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, there was no poetry involved.
DeleteIn your honor, I versed a poem.
DeleteRoses are red, and this poem is terse, Triple M's son meant versus but instead he said verse.
Thanks so much. I got a little misty.
DeleteIf he's a cub scout, there's still time for him to grow out of his usage. Each one of my kids finally outgrew their "me-n-my friend" stage. (Of course, only after about 20 billion reminders from me...)
ReplyDeleteI cringed when I read your title. This abomination comes out of my boys' mouths several times a day lately. I had never heard it before. I try to take a scholarly approach, and enjoy the creative ways my boys use language to express themselves--language is constantly changing, so aren't we lucky if we get to see the changes? I think in 50 years, this usage of "verse" will show up in a dictionary somewhere! (Probably online, though, because real dictionaries will be obsolete.)
ReplyDeleteSo very lucky.
DeleteI pretty much had this same exact conversation last year. With my (very intelligent) husband. Luckily, he took it well, and even more luckily, I don't have to await my children growing up thinking it's Good verse Evil.
ReplyDeleteActually, he may have had it right-ish. At least according to #2 and #3 here:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verse
Wow, it has officially entered the English language. I still hate it!
DeleteWe plan on homeschooling our kids someday (I guess we have to HAVE some first, huh?). But it is just such situations like this that I fret over regarding my future spawn. I'm so worried that I will correct them, and then they will end up being right!
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of reasons we don't have any little monkeys of our own yet...
Though Hubby is about ready to hand over the lawn-mowing duties to a child of ours, so I guess we better get crack-a-lackin'. That's a good enough reason to have kids, right? Lawn-mowing duties?
Absolutely! And those dishes don't wash and put themselves away either.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! I teach Relief Society, and I told the gals one Sunday that we do indeed have kids. But we leave them home to clean the house while Hubby and I are spiritually fed at church. They don't need religion until they're eight years old, anyway. Am I right?! :)
DeleteWhile annoying, might I redirect your attention to the phrase "give a talk?" (You use this one MMM.) "Talk" is not a noun, and overuse by the LDS community and de-sensitivity to the phrase does not make it correct.
ReplyDeleteThis is my personal mission. I'll fail, but try nonetheless.
J
Gonna have to disagree with you on this one: Talk is indeed a noun. There are four definitions of "Talk" as a noun in most dictionaries. Here are two that are applicable:
ReplyDeletenoun:
17. an informal speech or lecture.
18. a conference or negotiating session: peace talks.
I'm more comfortable using "talk", rather than "speech" or "discourse" in a church setting.
I hope I didn't throw cold water on your personal mission...perhaps you could find a new one?
No worries. I have many missions :) I still hate it though!
DeleteI am at the same time laughing and cringing at this one! My boys say this all the time, I think they get it from playing video games against each other. Trying to change it while not making too big a deal out of it.
ReplyDeleteMy cub scout son uses it also. Versing someone has definitely become common in the elementary schools. I suppose I'll go write something with my frindle.
ReplyDeleteMMM, did you truly use this sentence in a post about the use of language: "I knew I had that something needed to be done." Tsk, tsk, tsk.
ReplyDeleteIf you think that was bad, you should have seen it before I changed it!
DeleteThanks for the edit. If you get bored, you can probably find several errors on every one of my 384 posts. Happy hunting!
today I "versed" Stake Conference.....sad to say, I lost.
ReplyDeleteLast week at our family reunion as we started a round of disc golf my 8 year old nephew sincerely asked me, "Are we versing each other, because I just think we should have fun." I'm so glad I read your blog so I knew what in the world he was talking about. I was able to reassure him that we would most definitely NOT be versing each other, so he could relax and enjoy the morning. Thanks, M3.
ReplyDelete