Wednesday, April 27, 2005

I've Come to Save the Weedeater.

Dear, Shayne.

Is the past-tense of "weed-eat" actually weed-ate? Or weed-eated? And you can't go with "weed-whacked" or "had weed-eaten" because that is a copout.


That is an very good the asked question, my dear The Question Asking Person of beautiful blue planet.

This is a very easy one for me, since I have all the answers as well as some correct answers. This, I can tell you without the slightest trace of ambivalence, is one of those.

You can not use “weedate.” Nor can you use “weedated.” Either would sound as if you have an usually strong fondness for your lawn equipment. Although there are some girls with less personality than weed-eaters who may say “weedated.” I vehemently deny all accusations as their attempt to ride the coat-tails of the fame which I have attained in spite of them..

The correct past tense is “weed-eated,” as in “I weed-eated the yard yesterday with my weed-eater.”

I consulted my wife, who is a very lovedear and Australian to me, on this issue. She said that all of those are incorrect. You would not have weed-eated the yard with your weed-eater. You would have “whippersnipped” the garden with your “whippersnipper.”

Either is probably acceptable without fear of copout . It may boil down to the where from which you are from, if not others.

Incidentally, this Q&A obviously begs the question, so good luck with your how out there!

2 comments:

Jay said...

I think the past tense for weed-eater is racoon-armed.

shayne said...

It's actually "weeded," but there's nothing funny about that..

Isn't that funny?