Wacky Word Choice: Conversate or Converse?

Thanks to all of you who have been commenting and adding to our wacky-word conversation these past few weeks. Please continue to post your questions and share your examples. This week’s winner is conversate.

We need to conversate about next week’s meeting.

Is conversate a word?

Well, when I typed it for this blog, it appeared with a red squiggly line under it. My grammar checker flagged it.

Yet, people do say conversate. I’ve personally heard people use it in conversations and not even blink. Even dictionaries list it as a nonstandard verb.

These same dictionaries list irregardless and ain’t as words, too.

Simple solution: Stop saying conversate. Use the standard acceptable converse if you want to be correct. Use converse.

Not this: We need to conversate about the upcoming class reunion.

But this: We need to converse about the upcoming class reunion.

Not this: I saw Kent conversating with his defensive line during the timeout.

But this: I saw Kent conversing with his defensive line during the timeout.

 

 

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Photo by Andre Mouton on Unsplash