4 ms·

Next time the author should write an article about how "friend" became a verb.

• pjkundert 16y ago
  "Friend" (the noun) has become "friend" (the verb). Hence, his usage is correct.
  • pigbucket 16y ago
    >"Friend" (the noun) has become "friend" (the verb). Hence, his usage is correct. My comment was about the disparity between the title and the substance of the article, not about usage. Sorry for the confusion. But since you've got me typing again, one thing about the substance. Card is right to say historians have little to worry about, but the old hand-written letters, especially when written by the likes of Henry James, have always been more than grist for the historian's mill. They became in some cases a genuine art form. I think that is one of the things lost in the transition to electronic communication: a peculiar kind of intimate art form. Other art forms have risen to take their place: the art of the blog, the art of the 140-character witticism, but not, as far as I can tell, the art of the email--at least not if you discount the humorous trolls. It was surprising to me that Card, as a novelist, didn't address that.