Engineering amazing

[Jonathan Lighter]

The gerund notion is about verbs being used as nouns. This appears to be an
adjective used as a noun.

If I had to make a semantic distinction - which Lexus probably didn't - I' d
say that
to engineer "amazing" (adj. > n.) means to engineer that which is amazing,
while to engineer "amazing" (v. > n.) means to engineer the word "amazing."
That is, if it means anything I can comprehend at all.

Of course, you can  finesse the whole thing by claiming that "amazing" is a
mere routine truncation of "amazing things," but it sure doesn't feel that
way to me.

JL




On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Engineering amazing
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9/18/2011 08:57 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Just saw the commercial (one of several) in its entirety.
> >
> >"Amazing" is a noun.
> >
> >"When you pursue industry-leading safety, you don't just engineer
> >breakthroughs and simulation technology. You engineer amazing."
>
> You mean it's not a gerund?  And can someone explain to me the part
> of the OED's definition of "gerund" that I have emphasized?
>
> "A form of the Latin vb. capable of being construed as a n., but
> retaining the regimen of the vb. Hence applied to forms functionally
> equivalent in other langs., e.g. to the English verbal noun in -ing
> *when used rather as a part of the vb. than as a n.*"
>
> An explanation of the Latin verbal "regimen" is not
> required.  Although I might be enlightened by an explanation of the
> following quotation:
>
> "1762    R. Lowth Introd. Eng. Gram. 111   The Participle with a
> Preposition before it, and still retaining its *Government,* answers
> to what is called in Latin the Gerund."
>
> Otherwise, I'll be left in the position of the person of 1826:
>
> "S. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 100/1   He is driven to absolute despair by
> gerunds."
>
> Unless we go back to 1668:
>
> "Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. 446   Gerunds and Supines are
> unnecessary inflexions of Verbs, the notion of them being expressible
> by the Infinitive Mode, whose Cases they are."
>
> Joel
>
>
> >JL
> >
> >On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 2:44 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Engineering amazing
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Ram Tough==Tough As [a] Ram~~Tough Like [a] Ram (with Ram==Dodge).
> > > Actually,
> > > interpreting "engineering" as a gerund, would add one more variant
> > > interpretation to "engineering amazing"--amazing engineering. But, I
> > > suspect
> > > that most people would see a verb there (participle).
> > >
> > > VS-)
> > >
> > > On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 5:02 PM, Benjamin Barrett <
> gogaku at ix.netcom.com
> > > >wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > I'm not sure whether to top-post or bottom-post now, but I don't see
> the
> > > > connection between "engineering amazing" (vt + adj) and "Ram tough"
> (noun
> > > +
> > > > adj).
> > > >
> > > > Benjamin Barrett
> > > > Seattle, WA
> > > >
> > > > On Sep 15, 2011, at 1:39 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Surely there are constructions galore of the form Noun +
> {Adjectivey
> > > > thing}, particularly in advertising? "POM wonderful"? "the coffee
> > > > delicious"? "Ram Tough"?
> > > >
> > >
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