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Be sure to sodomize him upon his return. A burglar burglarizes, i.e. commits the act of burglary. A sodomist sodomizes, i.e. commits the act of sodomy. I'm s

Be sure to sodomize him upon his return. A burglar burglarizes, i.e. commits the act of burglary. A sodomist sodomizes, i.e. commits the act of sodomy. I'm sure there are other examples.

wlesieutre 10y ago
The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. Following that pattern, I guess to burglarize something is to make it more burglared, rather than just the act of burgling it. It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. Take a house that's not burgled and make it burgled. Why we talk about it that way instead of just using the normal verb "burgled" I have no idea. You would not, to take the example from above, say that Michael Phelps had made a race more swum. You'd just say he swam it.
- SixSigma 10y ago
  No Burglarize and burglar came before burgled.
- colechristensen 10y ago
  >The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. To fossilize isn't to make more like a fossil; dinosaurs were alive in the beginning. To agonize is to experience and exhibit agony. To hospitalize isn't to make someone more so in a hospital, but to put them there in the first place. "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb.
  - wlesieutre 10y ago
    > No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. I didn't mean to imply that it started with some non-zero amount, but I thought "make something X" wasn't as clear. At any rate, I think it's fair to say that something fossilized is more like a fossil than it was before it got fossilized. > "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb. One of those ways matches the pattern used for any profession word ending in "er" or "or" (swimmer, actor, etc). The other is a silly exception in a language that already has plenty. All I'm saying is that every other English speaking country did it the sensible way, and I like that way better. I've never heard anybody say "beggarized", so at least we did the sane thing with that one.
    - colechristensen 10y ago
      I think your core confusion is assuming burglar is a verb + er as in "burglar is one who does burgle", but it isn't. -er comes to English from germanic languages Burglar is a loan word from French, directly. It doesn't use -er/-ar/-or. It might seem like that... and that's why "burgle" was created, but "burgle" isn't the "normal" word, it was created to follow a common pattern in English, but -ize is just as valid and is very old. It's no silly exception, it's just how words are used. No one would say beggarized, because beg is already the root word. "burgle" wasn't already a root word. It seems like it might have been but it wasn't.
      - wlesieutre 10y ago
        Maybe I should just learn Esperanto or some other more consistent language...
- khedoros 10y ago
  > It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. English is a collection of strange linguistic distinctions. Following the pattern of compatible/incompatible, I might be surprised by the meanings of flammable and inflammable.

Be sure to sodomize him upon his return. A burglar burglarizes, i.e. commits the act of burglary. A sodomist sodomizes, i.e. commits the act of sodomy. I'm sure there are other examples.

wlesieutre 10y ago

The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. Following that pattern, I guess to burglarize something is to make it more burglared, rather than just the act of burgling it. It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. Take a house that's not burgled and make it burgled. Why we talk about it that way instead of just using the normal verb "burgled" I have no idea. You would not, to take the example from above, say that Michael Phelps had made a race more swum. You'd just say he swam it.

SixSigma 10y ago
No Burglarize and burglar came before burgled.
colechristensen 10y ago
>The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. To fossilize isn't to make more like a fossil; dinosaurs were alive in the beginning. To agonize is to experience and exhibit agony. To hospitalize isn't to make someone more so in a hospital, but to put them there in the first place. "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb.
- wlesieutre 10y ago
  > No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. I didn't mean to imply that it started with some non-zero amount, but I thought "make something X" wasn't as clear. At any rate, I think it's fair to say that something fossilized is more like a fossil than it was before it got fossilized. > "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb. One of those ways matches the pattern used for any profession word ending in "er" or "or" (swimmer, actor, etc). The other is a silly exception in a language that already has plenty. All I'm saying is that every other English speaking country did it the sensible way, and I like that way better. I've never heard anybody say "beggarized", so at least we did the sane thing with that one.
  - colechristensen 10y ago
    I think your core confusion is assuming burglar is a verb + er as in "burglar is one who does burgle", but it isn't. -er comes to English from germanic languages Burglar is a loan word from French, directly. It doesn't use -er/-ar/-or. It might seem like that... and that's why "burgle" was created, but "burgle" isn't the "normal" word, it was created to follow a common pattern in English, but -ize is just as valid and is very old. It's no silly exception, it's just how words are used. No one would say beggarized, because beg is already the root word. "burgle" wasn't already a root word. It seems like it might have been but it wasn't.
    - wlesieutre 10y ago
      Maybe I should just learn Esperanto or some other more consistent language...
khedoros 10y ago
> It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. English is a collection of strange linguistic distinctions. Following the pattern of compatible/incompatible, I might be surprised by the meanings of flammable and inflammable.