4 ms·
> in "stop being lazy" it is a verb It isn't.
by uhnuhnuhn 9y ago
> in "stop being lazy" it is a verb
It isn't.
- sanderjd 9y agoThat's very pedantic! While I didn't mean "it" in that statement to refer just to the word "lazy", I suppose it's true that "being lazy" also isn't technically a verb. Other commenters below have found more precise language, but I think a charitable reading of what I wrote is pretty clear in meaning.
- Digit-Al 9y agoHow about "stop [acting] lazy"? 'Acting' has more of an implication of something you are putting on that can be easily changed, rather than 'being' which possibly implies something you are, that is not easily changed.
- sanderjd 9y agoThis is deeper down a rabbit hole than I really meant to go, but I personally think "being lazy" is appropriate; I spend time being lazy pretty often, and it isn't an act, it's true laziness, but it's also temporary.
- vermilingua 9y agoNo, but "being lazy" is an action, which can be stopped. It's much harder to stop being lazy if you are being told it's a facet of your identity.
- Zak 9y agoLazy, here, is a state. It could be understood as a temporary state like being asleep or being hungry, or a facet of one's identity. "Stop slacking" might be better; it unambiguously refers to current behavior that a person can change immediately.
- thomastjeffery 9y agoLazy is an attribute. "Being lazy" is a transient state. That's the important distinction here.
- betenoire 9y agoI thought that maybe another language would have a word for this, and I found https://spanishto-english.com/spanish-dictionary/haraganear https://spanishto-english.com/spanish-dictionary/haraganear It calls "being lazy" an intransitive verb
- PGenes 9y agoTIL: Raising children involves complex and subtle verbal acrobatics. How on earth did the species manage this for so long?