5 ms·

I know this is pernicious, but I'd suggest that disappeared isn't a verb

• alexeisadeski3 13y ago
  I think that it is. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disappeared http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disappeared
• syllogism 13y ago
  Surely you mean isn't a transitive verb? Anyway, it's rare but well attested: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=disappeared+it&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdisappeared%20it%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=disappeared+it...
  • DavidWoof 13y ago
    Check the details on that ngram, it doesn't capture "disappeared" as a transitive verb. Virtually all the examples are variations on "Once the item had disappeared, it was never seen again."
  • dragonwriter 13y ago
    “Disappeared” in the sense used here refers to domestic opponents being covertly kidnapped—and usually murdered—by their governments; a usage that originated in connection with Argentina's “Dirty War”, but which has been used for many other situations since. The use of “disappeared” this way here I would say I is very conscious commentary in itself.
• testrun 13y ago
  It is, for instance 'he disappeared into the night', but how it is used here sounds strange to me.
  • pyre 13y ago
    It's used in the same sense that people would say that the KGB 'disappeared' people.
    • alan_cx 13y ago
      It's used in the same sense that people would say that the CIA 'rendered' people?
• AmVess 13y ago
  I agree. Verbing weirds language.