"Mr. Rollins, who are we versing today?"
I know the kids are simply turning the "vs" or "versus" in the “it’s the Canucks versus the Blackhawks” into a verb here.
But it kills me. Every time. The teacher in me can't let it go. I always try to take the time to stop and explain to my student/player on my team that you can only "verse" in poetry. I say that they really should be asking, "Who are we playing against today?" But my teaching hasn’t ever seemed to catch on. It’s kind of like the “your/you’re” misuse or the “their/they’re/there” error. We need to address these errors of language.
Regardless of whether I was teaching PE or coaching after school and in not mattering whether it was in Vancouver, Richmond or Bangladesh, “versing” was still the popular term. Seriously, where did this phenomenon come from? I did a quick google search of "versing" and didn't think I'd find much, but there's a fair bit out there, including a couple other blog posts on this topic (darn, I was hoping to be original here) and an urbandictionary.com reference. Anyway, perhaps it’s all part of a larger breaking down of the English language including: texting shortcuts, shortening words like “night” into “nite” to make them easier to spell and the advent of new “words” to our vernacular. However, I wouldn’t be so sure, because I would argue from my qualitative analysis on the subject that the trend has remained steady over the years instead of spiking recently with the advent of instant messaging.
Maybe we'll get this sorted out one day. But I doubt it. It's me "versus" them. Unless some people want to join me in my crusade.
I'm totally with you Mr. Rollins. I've tried for years to teach the correct form, but it falls on deaf ears. I do know that if a language isn't changing over time though it's doomed, so maybe those in the younger generations are on to something. Time will tell.
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