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| Bring me my smelling salts! Don't they know it's supposed to be INTRANSITIVE??!! |
I was quite surprised to see this on the Australian Ballet's facebook feed:
It was a Brisbane builder who swooned Telstra Ballet Dancer Award nominee Nicola Curry from America to Australia."Swoon" used transitively (i.e. with a direct object, "to swoon someone")? How very biza... I mean interesting.
Is this just an Australian thing, I wondered.
Sure enough, I found more Australian evidence: .
Sat 29 Oct 2011 # Come and be swooned by the intoxicating harmonies of The Idea of North. This ARIA award winning group will sing a smooth blend of ballads including songs by The Beatles, Sting, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder all on a candlelit stage.
2007 2:41 PM . # Afterall I bet a lot of women are feeling ripped off after being swooned by these guys who have done the course on becoming a pick up artist and find after a short time they have nothing to talk about. # Unless all you both want is a quick roll in the hay, you will want to be able to talk for a long time into the future.
Occasional, but very little, US evidence:
I surveyed my helpful international editors' group, and only three Canadians, two Australians, and two Americans were familiar with this usage (compared to hundreds who were not). One Australian opined that it must be the effect of a popular morning radio show called "Swoon". She also mentioned "swoon-worthy", which, however, is not uniquely Australian.
Country/genre United States: General Title How It Works: Clinton's “Reality Distortion Field” Charisma Source http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/21/bill-clinton-reality-distortion-field/
. # I have to say that I too have heard a story exactly like the one described above from my professor. Women doesn't like Clinton beforehand but when he meets her, she becomes swooned by him.
"Swoon" in the literal "lose consciousness" sense comes from an Old English word. But we
don't say to a doctor, “I haven't been feeling well, and I've been swooning a lot”.
Why not? Because the Norman French arrived, and they fainted instead. "Faint" is a fascinating word that originally meant “pretend to be
sick” (it is related to "feign" and "feint").
But, as with many Anglo-Saxon words pushed aside by Norman French interlopers, we didn't get rid of swoon altogether. A very important thing
about English over its history is that it LOVES synonyms.
If you think of "Reduce Reuse Recycle", English has NEVER been into the "reduce" part, but, boy, does it love to reuse and recycle. We kept swoon because apparently at some point in our history
we decided we needed a word that means specifically “faint in particularly
romantic circumstances.”
And now it seems to be taking on another meaning as well. We shall have to keep an eye on it. Let me know if you have ever encountered this usage!
P.S.
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I'm over 50 but I listen to a some Indie music because I enjoy listening to something new.The Zolas, an Indie band from Vancouver has a song titled "Swooner"... "that incandescent girl of Incan descent. When the arrows volley down will you stay with me? Build a fire out of pages of magazines. Someone like you don't come around every dynasty. A swooner, that's what you are..."
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard this song I couldn't remember hearing the word Schooner since I used to watch movies from the 40's with my Mom. I was impressed and surprised that people so young were using it in the way that they did, whether it is correct or not :)
| How very biza... I mean interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with biza for now. I've never heard the transitive usage.
It looks as if "swooned" is becoming a synonym for "floored".
ReplyDeleteI have never seen it used transitively before now.