Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 18, 2024

JJ is throwing a few jabs today. Humbuggery, Sole View, Giving vis-à-vis Gifting, and even hitting Santa. Where to start… Anyway, JJ’s brother looks a lot like Arlo’s did last week.

It’s the little lessons in life that seem to be remembered in the dark hours of night.

Every time I hear someone say they" gifted" something, I cringe.

Narrative by Arlo?

No one has ever accused me of gifting. My gifts have never been divine enough.

Yes! Arlo is right-on as usual. Strike this ridiculous conversion of nouns to verbs.

My hair was auburn as a kid, then as I got older it was a straight up brown, when I worked out on the compound as a correctional officer many times without a hat it turned almost red, when I got an office detail for my last 9 years it was brown and now, it is almost all gray.

I, for one, agree that “gift” should remain a noun, never a verb! So there are at least two of us (it’s not just “the sole view of the author”).

When I was a kid my father in laws hair was mostly there and now it isn’t.

Who came up this idea of “gifting”?

His younger brother was Stevie Griffin. Who knew?

I do have to laugh at Arlo acting like he grew up next door to Laura Ingalls. Most likely, he lived in tract housing outside of Cincinnati.

I have never heard anyone use it that way. Strange

“Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. This isn’t a bad thing; if English hadn’t changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn’t have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language.”

“Gift” is not a transitive verb. The same thing has happened to “shop” and “sleep.”

Verbalizing nouns is one of my pet peeves too, Jimmy; it’s corporate speak and it drives me nuts. But I see that after all these years you continue to “grow” your comic strip ….

Gifted author.

Not sure where this arc is coming from, or going to. It appears we’re not in Arlo’s world anymore but in JJ’s “real” world. I, for one, can’t wait to see where he takes us on this personal journey. For sure many of us can identify because we share a similar past.

Gifting; passing a house or chunk of land to a charity, or gifting an old piano to the church. Giving a gift to someone you love or appreciate has no ulterior benefits. Well, maybe.

Thanks for commenting on the awful and confusing conjugation of gift as a verb. Our poor language!

I thoroughly agree with the author’s humbuggery!

Hey Jimmy, are you making an editorial comment about your brothers ears?

“Gift/gifting” has been used as a verb for over 400 years so it’s going to be difficult breaking folks of the habit. Language evolves so get used to it.

A. McKay, in the “History of Kilmarnock” (1880), wrote, “This bell was gifted by the Earl of Kilmarnock to the town of Kilmarnock for their Council~house.”

And even earlier, we have, “If they object, that tithes, being gifted to Levi, in official inheritance, can stand no longer than Levi. . . .” This is from 1619. It is in J. Sempill’s “Sacrilege Sacredly Handled,” on p. 31.

Or this, from 1801: “Parents were prohibited from selling, gifting, or pledging their children.” That’s in A. Ranken’s “History of France,” vol. I, on p. 301.

We’ve been “gifting” things for almost as long as we have people “gifted” in mathematics, gifted in medicine, or gifted in operating heavy equipment—we can be gifted, in rthat sense, in anything. But “gifting” a present is old and long established, it certainly seems.

No, not the sole view of the author. Me too!

Mr Johnson, did you get your sense of humour from having to look at your brother Every Dam Day?

I’m with JJ. “Gifting gifts.” “Impacting.” I hate it when they verb nouns. Which I just did.

I agree Jimmy. The verbization of nouns is one of the more deplorable affronts to the English language of this century.

“reflects solely”?

I detest the word gift used as a verb.

using nouns as verbs is, in general, asinine

As I read the comments, the fairly recent grammatically incorrect use of the word “fun” kept popping into my head. The remainder of my post is a direct quote from the site ‘English language and usage stack.’ —Almost any elementary school teacher will tell you, it’s grammatically incorrect to say “as fun” or “so fun.” In these instances, “as” and “so” are adverbs, and “fun” is a noun, and adverbs never modify nouns. The noun “fun” should be modified with the preposition “much,” as in “as much fun” or “so much fun.

Give, gave, giving a gift.

Yeah, who was the idiot that came up with someone ‘gifting’ something, instead of giving. You tell ’em, Jimmy!

I’m with you on “giving” vs “gifting”. To me “gifting” is irritating.

I don’t “gift gifts” or “give gifts”. I do an inventory of the glass I made over the year and send it to people in brown paper.

I’ve never heard “gifting” but I’ve heard “RE-gifting.” As in, unwanted fruitcakes or ugly sweaters from last year. And just having to be very careful not to re-gift anything back to the original GIVER of the gift. :) Perhaps Arlo / Jimmy are taking a swipe due to smoldering resentment over past hand-me-down clothes “re-gifted” to him in childhood Christmases past. If so, totally understandable.

The first panel the kid with the football head looks like Stewier Griffin from “the Family Guy” cartoon. Is this JJ’s little brother?

You’re not the sole believer of that, JJ. And I doubt that it is the sole thing you believe.

You are absolutely not the sole holder of that view!

Right on, Arlo!!

Gift, as a verb has been in use since the 1500 or 1600s; it is nothing new. It is neither ‘woke’ nor ‘a California’ thing.’ It is sometimes found in old documents, but the conjegation is not the same as some people are using gift now. As a verb, it would have been— give, gave, gift. (not gifted) as in “Give me something.” I gave you something." “He was gift something.” While it sounds archaic, it has its use—not in modern conversation, but writers of historical fiction might use it.