OT: Sorta OT - Doris Burke

[Bigboote]

I think it was Doris whom I first heard use the word “effort” as a verb. “(Sideline reporter) is efforting that as we speak.” Thankfully that was short-lived; I think it didn’t last more than one or two seasons.

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and heard ”action” used as a verb. “If we find they’ve been actioning on those findings . . .”

 

[topogigio]

I am not a fan of Doris and her play by play, or general announcing. Her overuse of the word "comport" is one of the main reasons! I keep thinking of "compote" and don't like that either!

 

[packwrap]

I for one happen to love the word “comport” and particularly its reflexive form “to comport oneself”. Doris, you keep doing you! Language is fun.

Sadly now in NCAA, all the players are comportaling themselves off to new schools.

 

[CL82]

I have always admired the way you comport yourself here on the BY, Nan...

Well, she is a savvy woman.

 

[Kat]

Doris Burke is the best.

 

[Sifaka]

I for one happen to love the word “comport” and particularly its reflexive form “to comport oneself”. Doris, you keep doing you! Language is fun.

There are those whose passive vocabulary extends into their active vocabulary. This lends itself to precision. That's a Good Thing. Those who don't know the terms active vocabulary and passive vocabulary may complain, as is their right.
They should study Proto-Indo-European just for fun.

 

[Sifaka]

I see a gentleman in his suit and tophat escorting his lady in her finery and her umbrella down a path in a London garden in 1865.

Glad you've read Dickens, Melville and Henry James.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and heard ”action” used as a verb. “If we find they’ve been actioning on those findings . . .”

Haven't millennials turned almost every word into a verb? Adulting is probably my favorite/least favorite, depending on my mood.

 

[leepaul]

Doris was the best- especially when she was a brunette.

She used the word comport sooo much when talking about Morgan Tuck- I was waiting for Morgan to curtsy to the ref at the foul line.

Anyone have an under/over on how many times she mentioned that Stewie had a 7 foot 1 inch wingspan? -)

 

[Steelerone]

Sports commentators are like basketball dunks. After the thousandth cliche you begin to die of boredom.

 

[salvagedsam]

I’m watching the Orlando Magic-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA playoff game and Doris is the color analyst. It took 30 seconds for Doris to mention how the Magic “comported” themselves. I kind of miss her doing women’s college basketball games but I don’t miss “comport”.

Go Magic!

Too funny. I wasn’t too fond of Doris and her yakking about how a ‘young lady comported herself’ was “Exhibit A”.

 

[CaliHuskyFan]

Clark Kellogg loved describing spurtability, & became known for it. Not sure if he or Doris originated it. He's a great analyst. I like Doris - she does have a good sense of humor & knows the game. In addition to "comport" & "physicality", another go-to of Doris' is "Mental Toughness". If you're taking a Tequila shot on any of these Doris-isms you'd be three sheets to the wind before the 1st TV timeout . . .

 

[Sifaka]

“Comport” is for city dwellers only. I graduated from UConn with major in English Literature and consider myself to be fairly well read with a better than average vocabulary, but until the word appeared in this thread I had never seen it in print and never heard it being spoken.

I guess you didn't read much by Bulwer-Lytton.

“Bulwer-Lytton's works were well known in his time. He coined famous phrases like "pursuit of the almighty dollar”, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, “the great unwashed", and the opening phrase "it was a dark and stormy night.” -wikipedia

He used the word frequently in all of his novels, including Paul Clifford, of dark and stormy night renown.

As an English lit. major, skipping over Bulwer-Lytton shows discretion, but the word also show up in Jane Eyre. Were the Brontë sisters not deemed worthy of attention?

 

[Bigboote]

I just heard one of the announcers of the Minnesota-Phoenix use the (sorta) word “comportance”.

 

[Bone Dog]

I guess you didn't read much by Bulwer-Lytton.

“Bulwer-Lytton's works were well known in his time. He coined famous phrases like "pursuit of the almighty dollar”, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, “the great unwashed", and the opening phrase "it was a dark and stormy night.” -wikipedia

He used the word frequently in all of his novels, including Paul Clifford, of dark and stormy night renown.

As an English lit. major, skipping over Bulwer-Lytton shows discretion, but the word also show up in Jane Eyre. Were the Brontë sisters not deemed worthy of attention?

Hahaha!!! Whaddyaknow, my wife is a retired English prof, Victorianist. I hear this stuff all day long, and she constantly points out the 19th century sources for every other cliché I use.

As for “efforting,” I think that’s a Tony Robbins coinage. And if I were to flex a little on “comport”, I might do some etymology magic. The com- is the easy part. But the -port is such an interesting, all purpose root, one could take it in any number of speculative directions.

 

[Sifaka]

And if I were to flex a little on “comport”, I might do some etymology magic. The com- is the easy part. But the -port is such an interesting, all purpose root, one could take it in any number of speculative directions.

Etymology? Yeah, we've got that.

comport (v.)​

late 14c., "to bear, endure (grief, pain, etc.; sense now obsolete), from Old French comporter "endure, admit of, allow; behave" (13c.) and directly from Latin comportare "to bring together, collect," from com "with, together" (see com-) + portare "to carry" (from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over").

Meaning "to agree, accord, be suitable" (with with) is from 1580s. Meaning "to behave, conduct" (with a reflexive pronoun) is from 1610s. Related: Comported; comporting.
also from late 14c.

Simplifying massively, the port is from the Latin portare, to carry.
As in porter.

source: etymonline, which cribs judiciously from the OED.

PIE is proto Indo-European, the ultimate ancestor of European languages.

 

[Crossover]

I think it was Doris whom I first heard use the word “effort” as a verb. “(Sideline reporter) is efforting that as we speak.” Thankfully that was short-lived; I think it didn’t last more than one or two seasons.

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and heard ”action” used as a verb. “If we find they’ve been actioning on those findings . . .”

Ugh!! I think I'm going to roll over and die.

 

[Bone Dog]

Simplifying massively, the port is from the Latin portare, to carry.
As in porter.

And then, somehow, a com- reflexivity is introduced to get to something like a behavior. To comport with, one must first comport. To go from some sort of agreement sense to a conduct sense. The PIE root is sooo suggestive. To lead or pass over. The first possibility suggests some sort of duct- work through which we might lead ourselves to a conducive comportment. The second possibility suggests a moral judgment withheld or even an abstention in addition to a transmission or a publication. And that reflexive pronoun/prefix does some wonderful magic here. Before we know it, it’s all prêt á porter

 

[Rixxx]

Glad you've read Dickens, Melville and Henry James.

Or watched Bridgerton on Netflix.