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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010I just like the verb
The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members brought with them. I just like the verb.  SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members > brought with them. > > I just like the verb. So do I - although I'm not entirely sure why! When I was in the (British) army in the 60s it was a term we regularly used as a verb. Not sure if it's used much now, I certainly haven't heard it used for a while. >> The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members >> brought with them. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >as a verb. Not sure if it's used much now, I certainly haven't heard it used >for a while. It was used, also in the 60s, when I was in the (U.S.) army. The two weeks of summer camp required for U.S. Army Reservists was split into one week in barracks and one week on bivouac (tents in the field). SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >> The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members >> brought with them. >> >> I just like the verb. > >So do I - although I'm not entirely sure why! Well, I guess I like it because of the added 'k'. I know that's the same as mimicked, but I don't see mimicked in print very often either. >When I was in the (British) army in the 60s it was a term we regularly used >as a verb. Not sure if it's used much now, I certainly haven't heard it used >for a while. If it's German in origin, maybe it came to English via French and Napoleon, like a lot of militarry words. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members > brought with them. > > I just like the verb. I don't have much occasion to use it in my present sedentary life, but I regard it as a perfectly normal verb. How else would one say it? "Camped", maybe, but that conjures up the image of something grander than a bivouack. Of course, as we are referring to Americans here it is quite likely that they are indeed lodged in something grander than the bivouack that I once spent a very uncomfortable night in. My recollection is that that thing itself was normally called a bivvy. Signatureathel >> The NYPD/FDNY team is bivouacked at the airport in tents members >> brought with them. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > My recollection is that that thing itself was normally called a > bivvy. And there are "bivvy bags", although the "two-man" tent I used when camping alone was claustrophobic enough for me. The French spelling is interesting, considering the word's derivation from "biwacht". Is the presence in the French of representations of both / v/ (v) and / w/ (ou) an indication that both sounds were present in the German* word (/ bivwAxt/), and possibly that this was a stage in the transition from / w/ to / v/? Is that how the transition is more generally made? *The Online Etymology Dictionary says "Swiss/Alsatian". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bivouac |
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