
"Login" is not a verb - treyp
http://www.loginisnotaverb.com/
======
Maciek416
I'm beginning to think that linguistic prescriptivism is going to have a hard
time holding up against the crazy mixing bowl that is the Internet and, to a
wider extent, globalization. It's fun to play grammar nazi and all, but I've
started to resign to the fact that people are simply going to do what they're
going to do. Look at the state of English only a couple centuries ago.
Language evolves quickly.

Who's to say login can't become a verb? "Google" and "email" did. Busily
propping up websites like this with guides and corrections is like a finger in
the dike.

~~~
georgieporgie
> "Google" and "email" did

"Google" and "email" don't contain prepositions.

I log in. You log in. We all logged in.

I login. You login. We all logined. What? We all loggedined? We all loggedin?

If we just acknowledge that "login" is a noun referring to your credentials,
where as "log in" (or "log on") means to supply one's login/credentials, then
it's all hunky-dory.

~~~
jamesbritt
'If we just acknowledge that "login" is a noun referring to your credentials,
where as "log in" (or "log on") means to supply one's login/credentials, then
it's all hunky-dory.'

If only. According to the James Study of Casual TV Activity, "log on" means
"visit this Web site". Any use of user name or password is coincidental.

E.g "Log on to CNN.com for all the latest headlines."

It's a lost cause. I'm saving my energy to preserve the distinction among
"few", "fewer", "less", and "lesser".

~~~
georgieporgie
> According to the James Study of Casual TV Activity, "log on" means "visit
> this Web site". Any use of user name or password is coincidental.

That's just incorrect usage of terminology by (most likely) marketing/PR
people.

In the olden days, you had to log on to your ISP over a modem. "Logging on"
happened all the time to access anything outside your computer.

I suspect that the occasional use of "log on" in reference to simply visiting
websites will disappear in favor of simply "visit". "Log on" will continue to
be used and abused with connection to sites that actually want you to log on
(after all, what better way to turn your website into a money maker than by
gathering user data).

> It's a lost cause. I'm saving my energy to preserve the distinction among
> "few", "fewer", "less", and "lesser".

This is reminding me of the article about the recent English grads who
traveled the country correcting grammar and spelling errors in signs on the
way.

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chaosmachine
Not worth getting upset about. Personally, I'm more concerned that we're going
to lose the word "lose". Everywhere I look, I see people sticking an extra o
in there. "You loose" etc.

~~~
georgieporgie
I suggest a new, combined form: looose. The meaning will be drawn from
context. I anticipate efficiency improvements world-wide.

~~~
mahmud
The English language doesn't have a word with three or more repetitions of a
letter. "LOOOL" and "mmmmmmuah" excepted.

~~~
jplewicke
From /usr/share/dict/words on OSX, I get the following:

whenceeer (probable corruption of whenceever, and hence not legit)

wallless

bossship

demigoddessship

goddessship

headmistressship

patronessship

~~~
nollidge
First one is probably a contraction missing the apostrophe: "whencee'er". But
that doesn't explain why "wheree'er" doesn't show up.

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RiderOfGiraffes

        "First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing
        because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival
        for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no
        verbs."
                     -- Peter Ellis.
    

And from the wonderful Calvin and Hobbes:

    
    
        Calvin: I like to verb words.
        Hobbes: What?
        Calvin: I take nouns and adjectives and use them
                as verbs. Remember when "access" was a thing?
                Now, it's something you do. It got verbed.
                Verbing weirds language.
        Hobbes: Maybe we can eventually make language a
                complete impediment to understanding.

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aristus
Cute, but English has tens of thousands of "phrasal verbs": Stand up, stand
down, stand out, stand over, stand against, _understand_.

Even more remarkable is that native speakers use these constructions all of
the time, yet the idea of a phrasal verb is apparently not taught in school.

~~~
arundelo
The point is that phrasal verbs are written spaced: "stand up" -- even when
conjugated: "stood up", not "*standupped".

~~~
aristus
Well, some phrases (and yes, phrasal verbs) get concatenated over time, like
"understand", "overtake", "courtmarshal", "becalm", "whipsaw", etc. The
conjugation and number rules work themselves out eventually, for example,
"courts-marshal", "overtook".

It's just one of the ways languages mutate. Usually the noun form mutates
first, and later on the verb form, but not always.

~~~
jtheory
Following the model of "understand" -- I'm going to start going with "inlog".
Inlogging, inlogged, inlogs -- it just works!

~~~
aristus
Go get 'em, tiger.

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petercooper
TL;dr - People "log in" to your site using your "login" page. You use your
"login" details to "log in."

~~~
marcusestes
Technically, I don't think "log in" is a compound verb. It's a verb followed
by a preposition.

~~~
petercooper
Interesting. While what you say has "logical" written all over it (given
variants like "logged out" where "logged" is clearly the verb), "log" as the
verb for this activity doesn't _feel_ right to me. I will, however, update my
previous post :-)

~~~
telemachos
People have said as much in other places in the thread, but it's probably
better to consider "log in" a phrasal verb. So your instinct ("doesn't _feel_
right to me") is right: they form a single semantic unit. You _don't_ log
(full stop), you _log in_.

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wrs
People out there seriously think "login" is a verb? Why make things
complicated? You just forgot the space. The usage of the verbs "log" and
"sign" (as in "log in" and "sign in") is clearly a metaphor for the paper
forms ("logs") used for buildings, equipment cabinets, etc.

Here's a visual aid: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/riggzy/3177839298/>

Also see meanings 6 and 13 at <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/log>.

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fjabre
Login is whatever 350 million people say it is.

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JangoSteve
Ok, _login_ isn't technically a verb... yet. Fact of the matter is, any
language is an evolving form of communication (except maybe latin at this
point). Along with words like _signup_ , _setup_ , etc, these words are nearly
ubiquitous on the web, and widely accepted/understood.

 _...we can't let one little conjugation problem make thousands of programmers
and technical writers look like fools_

"login is not a verb" + "many websites use it as a navigation element" !=
"programmers look like fools"

I could use a simple _door with an arrow_ image for logging in as well. That
image is not a word at all. Yet it would still serve as an effective
navigation element.

Also, who says that all websites intend for it to be a verb anyway? I have
another navigation called "account". I do not want users to _account the
site_. I simply want them to know that is the _account page_. Likewise,
"login" signifies that is the link to the _login page_ , for which this
article granted that it may be used as a noun.

Ok, I've spent entirely too much time on this subject.

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techiferous
<http://loginisaverb.com>

~~~
carussell
It seems someone didn't read. One of the links on that page is to
[http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-
verbs/log+in.h...](http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-
verbs/log+in.html). How does an entry for the phrasal verb "log in" which
doesn't even contain an occurrence of "login" corroborate that the latter is a
verb?

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ax0n
Also, "pedant" is a noun.

~~~
zkwentz
It simply is.

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aero142
Login can be a verb, we just haven't collectively decided how to conjugate it.
Correct in language is usually more a function of convention rather than
functionality. There just aren't rules to handle this. It can either be "he
logs in" where we just revert to the two word version, which appears to be the
most common approach, or you just conjugate and recombine. "He logsin". This
is harder to recognize and pronounce so I prefer the former. Eventually, the
matter will get settled by convention and then grammar nazis will nitpick
people for not knowing the rules for conjugating verb phrases correctly.

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dkasper
Login = log in without the space, just like some people use awhile as an
adverb whereas a while is the correct usage everywhere else (some people just
use a while everywhere). Log is the real verb. I logged in to the website.

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Sandman
_No other verb in the American language behaves that way. Even in the arcane,
deprecated predecessor of American (English), no verb behaves that way._

Wait, what? _American_ language? _Deprecated predecessor_? Somebody really
seems to hate the English people. The name of the language is still English.
American English. Just as the language they speak in Australia is Australian
English. See here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Countries_in_o...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Countries_in_order_of_total_speakers)

~~~
DJN
Yeah, I totally switched off when I read that phrase. Taking a dig at the
British is totally unnecessary and betrays the author's childishness. He needs
to get that chip off his shoulder.

It takes away from his otherwise, carefully constructed argument.

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itrekkie
I think it's almost silly to admit "log in" has the correct meaning and then
quibble about the orthography. I'd contend that it very much is a verb in the
same vein of phrasal and separable verbs as found in, e.g., German and
English. The fact that to log and to login are different is curious enough. If
I were a betting man, I'd say this is part of a lexical entry that composes
the verb, and being non-finite, is left in its generated position as the
finite portion becomes tensed. Regardless, usage trumps all.

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paulreiners
"impact" is also not a verb. I'm sure Nero Wolfe would agree with me on that,
if he were here today.

~~~
jtheory
Actually, impact has been a verb for a very long time... though generally
referring to wisdom teeth or, uh, feces.

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baddox
Even if it behaves like no other verb in the language doesn't mean it's not a
verb. Look at "go."

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B-30
"Asinine fascist unwilling to brook dialogue (thus, no contact or comments on
the web site) and unwilling to consider that English is English precisely
because it has no rules that cannot change, and thus became the international
lingua franca" is a longish phrase.

It simply is.

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InclinedPlane
It is if I use it as a verb. Now go away and find something worthwhile to rant
about.

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vishaldpatel
Login - is a noun. To login is actually "to log in" and thus "I logged in"..

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werrett
Ah, the past tense has always jarred with me and I now know why. Makes sense.
It's going to be hard to eradicate from my technical writing though.

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timtowtdi
Well, if 'login' is still missing in the dictionary, then it is time to add
it. Maybe as noun at first which can be verbalized later?

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smackfu
<http://www.google.com/search?q=loginned>

About 33,300 results

~~~
treyp
<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22logged+in%22>

About 224,000,000 results

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samstokes
'Magnanimousness' is not a noun. It's simply not.

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marknutter
It is now. Just like Google has become a verb.

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fod
If it walks like a duck....

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poopbender
Nor is "Yellow-carded".

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mkramlich
Welcome to English where we've been turning nouns into verbs and vice versa
for quite a while now.

~~~
carussell
I think that would hold more weight with people on this issue if it weren't
the case that there's already an appropriate verb here—"log in".

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sabat
Language mutates, often in unfortunate ways. "Login" is not actually a verb if
you follow the "rules" of English. You log in. "Log" is the verb. As much as
it bugs me, though, I've learned to accept misuses becoming the norm; this is
hardly the first time a word has evolved from butchery. There used to be a
billboard in SF on which a gym advertised that you could "workout in your
pajamas!" I've learned to grimace inwardly about that, "alot", "alright", and
other "violations". Because -- as in the case of "alright", we already have
... "already".

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bmnbug
If login isn't a verb then why when i try to comment does it prompt me to
"login"?

Example: Please login to comment. Example: Please exit to your right.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

