PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

The Department of Pet Peeves is open again. I am its director and I have full and complete authority to run the department as I see fit.

Call me a dictator.

This time, my pet peeve revolves around language.  It is using nouns as verbs. Doing so grates on my hearing.

One example that occurs very frequently today is the word “helm.” It is a noun, meaning, in nautical terms, the “wheel or tiller by which a ship is steered.” A more general definition is this: “The place or post of control.”

But is it a verb? I say no. Just use a word that means the same thing such as “steer” or “lead.”

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, when I looked up the word helm in the dictionary, there was a secondary definition that used the word as a verb. But I say no.

Or, how about the word “golf.” It means a sport, such as in “the sport of golf.”

But, one fairly common usage, says that you can “golf your ball.” Again, I say no. Use a word like hit or strike. Not golf.

Finally, an example that grates even more on my ear. The word is catalyst. I have a friend who surprised me one day a few years when he used the word “catalyst” as a verb as in “to catalyze.”

Even worse than others because it ads the letters “ize,” or in this case, “yze” to a word.

There is almost no example where adding “ize” is a good idea.

Nor is the word “catalyze.” Find another replacement.

I have been a writer for many years, dating back to high school when one of my dreams was to be a sportswriter when I realized I would not be a professional athlete. Well, that dream morphed into an early role as a general role for a daily newspaper, The Daily Astorian, and then morphed again into working for government (always with an emphasis on writing) and then again into working as a contract lobbyist (again with an emphasis on writing).

So, forgive me if I focus on what to me is the proper use of words. Leave nouns as nouns. Don’t make them into verbs. Find other useful options.