Dispatches from a middle-aged undergrad suburban girl who has successfully morphed into a smalltown girl (as proven by a successful case made for showing that the noun tree can function as a verb): Have you ever seen the noun tree used as a verb? my professor asked, fully expecting nobody to raise a hand. My hand went up (the only hand that went up). I have, I said. You have? She said. Yes, I said. He treed a coon. He. treed. a. coon. She repeated. The class erupted in laughter. What is a coon? A raccoon, I said. He treed a coon, as in the dog, the dog treed a coon. Treed? She said. Yes, the dog chased the raccoon up a tree. There was a lot of laughter, but very few of my fellow students seemed to recognize that use of tree as a verb (or they at least didnt admit it). I have lived most of my life in the city or suburbs and traveled far and wide. Still, I watched my cosmopolitan card fly out the window and vanish in a puff of smoke. I have successfully sealed the impression that I am a smalltown girl. Well, that may be the case, but I did test the phrase on one of my Adrian comp classes. Most of them knew it. One student even mentioned that it appears in Where the Red Fern Grows. See, its printed in classic American Literature. Guess Im not so smalltown afterall. Even if I am, thats fine by me, but I am now conducting an official survey on the phrase. Dont be surprised if you see me quizzing people on whether tree can be used as a verb or not. I will say that my professor said that if it had been a test question and I put that tree could be used as a verb, she probably would have initially marked it wrong, but she would have changed the mark if I came to her with the use I actually presented. Well, at least I know Maynard would tree a coon, maybe not a coon but definitely a squirrel.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 20:43:42 +0000
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