No, You Can’t “Trip” Anywhere.
They’re doing it again. Wrecking our lovely English language, one perfectly good word at a time.
As if it weren’t bad enough that a sizeable chunk of the population has no idea how apostrophes work (pro tip: contractions and possession. Not plurality) and that some marketing genius decided “gift” is a verb, we now have another offense against the mother tongue.
They’re mangling “trip.”
A trip is a noun, as in I’m taking a trip to London. To trip is a verb, as in I tripped over the dog. Both are perfectly respectable uses of the word.
But last week, I spotted an ad for a blouse designed for travel. The caption?
“I’ll never TRIP without it!”
No. No. No.
The blouse itself is adorable: oversized but not sloppy, made of linen and capable of taking you straight from the airplane to dinner. Just add pearls and you’re ready for a night on the town.
Best of all, you can rinse it out in a hotel sink, hang it up and wear it the next day without so much as a flirtation with an iron.
I’m a sucker for this sort of thing. I bought one this summer and I’ll admit it performs exactly as advertised. People have even complimented me on it. And really, is there anything more seductive than a stranger telling a woman of a certain age she looks cute?
Last week, I decided I might order a second blouse in another color.
Back to the website I went, ready to hand over my credit card.
That’s when I saw it.
A new ad. This one featured a chic-looking woman, posing in front of some European landmark I didn’t recognize. Beneath her, those five unforgivable words:
“I’ll never trip without it!”
I sighed and clicked out of the website.
I’ve lived long enough to know that some lines simply must not be crossed. I will not applaud the transformation of gift into a verb. I will scream if your Christmas card return address tells me it’s from The Adam’s. And I refuse to pretend that a person can trip to Paris.
I may be willing to spend money on a wrinkle-free linen blouse. But I am not willing to finance the continued destruction of the English language.
Join me in fighting the good fight. Refuse to say you tripped anywhere. (Unless you’re using psychedelics.)
OK, you may say you tripped somewhere if you actually stumbled on your way. Other than that, leave this lovely, utilitarian word alone.
