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loan as a verb
Posted: 09 January 2004 04:36 AM   [ Ignore ]
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What do you think about the use of loan as a verb, as in I loaned him my vacuum cleaner?  Kramer, in the TV sitcom Seinfeld, is the person who springs to mind having said that lately.  Doesn’t it seem to you that all I ever do is watch TV? That’s where I cull these gems for discussion.
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Posted: 09 January 2004 08:22 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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Unless you mean "loan" as a code word for ‘give’.  I think it’s fine!

As in: "Loan me twenty bucks to bet on a sure thing, friend!"

Sitran

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Posted: 09 January 2004 08:48 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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In British English, I believe this is still regarded as "wrong" (see Usage Note below). "Lend" would normally be used in this case. Nonetheless, it is frequently heard and will no doubt soon become accepted.

loan

n.

Something lent for temporary use.
A sum of money lent at interest.
An act of lending; a grant for temporary use: asked for the loan of a garden hose.
A temporary transfer to a duty or place away from a regular job: an efficiency expert on loan from the main office.
tr.v. Usage Problem loaned, loan·ing, loans
To lend.
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[Middle English lan, lon, from Old Norse ln; see leikw- in Indo-European roots.]
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loaner n.
Usage Note: The verb loan is well established in American usage and cannot be considered incorrect. The frequent objections to the form by American grammarians may have originated from a provincial deference to British critics, who long ago labeled the usage a typical Americanism. Loan is, however, used to describe only physical transactions, as of money or goods; for figurative transactions, lend is correct: Distance lends enchantment. The allusions lend the work a classical tone.

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Posted: 10 January 2004 02:11 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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This, from the PIE roots, shows the extent of acceptance (see underlined text):

a. Suffixed form *loikw-nes-. loan, from Old Norse lan, loan, from Germanic *laihwniz; b. lend, from Old English lænan, to lend, loan from Germanic denominative *laihwnjan.

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For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more… and realize that men’s hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words. - JRR Tolkien

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Posted: 22 January 2004 03:43 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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I would only use loan to describe a formal arrangement made with a financial institution. Even then, lend will do perfectly well as a verb. But my English is British English.

J.

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Posted: 22 January 2004 04:20 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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Now I wonder if the history of land is that it was real estate that was loaned... ???

-Tim

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For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more… and realize that men’s hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words. - JRR Tolkien

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