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I wrote recently about the verb, to gift. Today I was looking for some nail clippers on the Web, and I saw that Henkels’s fabulously overpriced manicure kits come in a “giftable” box. That seems to be adspeak for “suitable for putting a gift in”, not merely “givable”.
I just observe. I don’t try to stop the headlong plummet.
The Underachiever said:
I think it means “suitable to be made part of a gift”– once again, “to gift” suggests doing something to, not just with, the object.
The Underachiever said:
(“A givable box” would really be quite odd.)
J. D. Crutchfield said:
True, but things used to come in “a gift-box”.
J. D. Crutchfield said:
Now, two years later, we routinely hear about “holiday gifting”.
J. D. Crutchfield said:
A headline on the Russian web site Sputnik recently: “Kiev Complains Its US-Gifted HIMARS Rockets are ‘Shooting Blind’”. Probably not by a native speaker of English, but well in line with modern usage, at least among our paid praters.