Play or Game?

[vexillia]

Do you:

• Play games because you are old enough to have been taught that game is mainly a noun or an adjective not a verb?
• Game because you also play, or played, computer games?
• Game because that’s what all the cool kids say?
• Game because play is what children do and you’re just a touch embarrassed?
• Game because your wife/partner insists on using play as a gentle wind-up?

Discuss.

Martin Stephenson :: Work | Blog | Auctions

[Guy Farrish]

I play games because I was brought up speaking British (English) English and that’s what we did. And I still do.

[Not Connard Sage]

Whatever it is I do with toy soldiers is unencumbered  by semantics.

"I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's... depressing."

[kyoteblue]

I use both.

[Mike]

Being a gamer I play games.

[Ruarigh]

I both play and game according to my whim, because I know that both forms have been used in English since the medieval period, even in the same sentence: c1300 Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) l. 31 (MED) ‘Hi..pleide and gamenede ehc wiþ oþer’.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/
https://roderickdale.co.uk/

[Darkest Star Games]

I play games.  If I am going to go play games with my friends then I am going to game. When I play games with my friends I am gaming.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Alan Hamilton]

I play games.

I eat game.

[irishserb]

Darkest Star games pretty much said it for me.

[Autodidact-O-Saurus]

I play games. Just doesn’t seem correct to use it as a verb.

Self taught, persistently behind the times, never up to date. AKA ~ jeff
More verbosity: http://petiteguerre.blogspot.com/

[grizzlymc]

I play games with toy soldiers, because I like doing it.

[MartinR]

I play games, but I might describe myself as a gamer, rather than a player of games (which is a rather fine Ian M Banks novel).

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Etranger]

MartinR wrote:

I play games, but I might describe myself as a gamer, rather than a player of games (which is a rather fine Ian M Banks novel).

Azad! Now there was a hard core games system…

[Tony Hughes]

Certainly ‘game’ is a verb (hence gaming) and used mainly to refer to gambling in the more recent past (e.g. a gaming club). It is one of those words that is associated with a pleasurable activity and has many meanings within that scope as noun, adjective, verb or even adverb (she sported gamely).

English is rife with such words, why should it be a surprise. Considering what current writers do with the language, why does anybody care ?

 

 

[vexillia]

Tony Hughes wrote:

Certainly ‘game’ is a verb (hence gaming) and used mainly to refer to gambling in the more recent past (e.g. a gaming club).

I’d just like to point out that the “gaming” in “gaming club” is not a verb as it describes the type of club.

Martin Stephenson :: Work | Blog | Auctions

[Mike]

Tony Hughes wrote:

why does anybody care ?

Were this a wording website mayhaps I would, but it is not, so I don’t.
Maybe I could run a poll…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Mike.

[willz]

I would say I mainly lose games, rather than play them.

[Ruarigh]

vexillia wrote:

Tony Hughes wrote:

Certainly ‘game’ is a verb (hence gaming) and used mainly to refer to gambling in the more recent past (e.g. a gaming club).

I’d just like to point out that the “gaming” in “gaming club” is not a verb as it describes the type of club.

Most people I know would refer to it as a ‘games club’ rather than a ‘gaming club’. The latter sounds a little off in my ears, or perhaps more like a gambling establishment, but I guess it’s a variant that is in use.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/
https://roderickdale.co.uk/

[Patrice]

Fascinating thread!

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Who Asked This Joker]

I play.  I game.  What I do or use really depends on what comes out of my brain first.  Oddly, I seem to do the same thing no matter what I call it.

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Private Snafu]

I go phew, phew, phew….

___________________
http://moveshootassault.blogspot.com
https://sites.google.com/site/miniaturemachinations

[Mike Headden]

I play the game but game the system.

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is entirely optional!

[deephorse]

“Play games because you are old enough to have been taught that game is mainly a noun or an adjectivenot a verb?”

This.

I am old, I am British, and I have no problem with telling people that I play games.

Trust science, not the scientists.

[irishserb]

Game – to play for stake or prize.

[MartinR]

I suspect some this is down to inevitable transatlantic misunderstandings. There seems to have been a upsurge in nouns being turned into verbs (when on earth did holiday become a verb?), so I’ll stick to playing games.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Ruarigh]

MartinR wrote:

I suspect some this is down to inevitable transatlantic misunderstandings. There seems to have been a upsurge in nouns being turned into verbs (when on earth did holiday become a verb?), so I’ll stick to playing games.

The use of ‘game’ as a verb is not a part of this modern fashion for verbing. As I noted in my first post, ‘game’ has been a verb in English since the medieval period. It’s just that it is not that common in modern English and is mainly a regional usage now (according to the OED). What interests me is that ‘to game’ meaning ‘to manipulate a situation to one’s advantage’ is a US borrowing. I had not realised that before.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/
https://roderickdale.co.uk/

[Tony Hughes]

A gaming club was (and probably still is) a place where members went to gamble (or to game – as older usage would have it), totally different to a games club. I accept that this can be considered an adjective formed from the verb – not an uncommon feature of the torturous grammar of English. If described as ‘a club for gaming’ it would restore its original sense.

Maybe this is like ‘primering’ – words made up because the one who started the trend was ignorant of even basic English and the rest followed like sheep.

 

[Cerdic]

When game is used as a verb it is usually in a gambling context.

I would normally HAVE a game when wargaming. Maybe I’m a bit odd?

(according to the missus there is no maybe about it…)

http://28mmreview.blogspot.co.uk

[Patrice]

As a non-native English speaker I sometimes wrote “game table” in AARs (at random, with a vague feeling of incorrectness) but some answers I received suggested that “gaming table” is better.

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

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