Is the verb “to credit union”?
Jesse did some banking at an ATM owned by a bank this afternoon. I went to the credit union to deposit money, to cash a check, to save, to manage my finances. In short, “to bank”. But I didn’t want “to bank” at the credit union, I wanted to um, “credit unionize”? No, “to unify.” Hmmm…this sounds ridiculous.
Our current linguistic limitations do not allow for the full expression of our interactions with credit unions. Going a little further, I would argue that our current use of language actually limits our thinking about the possibilities for credit union relationships and actions. Imagine a sailor, going onto a boat “to boat”. Now imagine that same sailor going onto a boat “to sail.” The specificity lends itself to more powerful statement. If a sailor couldn’t “sail,” but could only “boat,” she would be floundering in a sea of barges, tugboats, waterskiiers, and canoes. We wouldn’t know what kind of craft she was using. It would be very powerful to know what kind of craft a credit union is (because its certainly not just a bank).
Challenge: Create the verb.
Requirements: 1) sounds good. 2) does not include the term “bank.”
For skeptics out there: relevant examples and analysis of why linguistics matters can be found on The Name Inspector (a detailed and lovely blog).
3 comments May 8th, 2007
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