Word mavens recognize 'Tebowing' as a verb

If you looked up “Tebowing” in the dictionary it would say, “the act of taking a knee in prayer during an athletic contest.”

No, really.

“Tebowing” is now recognized by the Global Language Monitor, which tracks trends in language.

A news release from the Global Language Monitor’s website says that the acceptance and use of Tebowing “has seldom been equaled.”

Remember, this isn’t a fan blogging about the greatness of Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. USA Today compares the Global Language Monitor to an online equivalent to Webster’s Dictionary.

“The dictionary’s job is to record usage,” University of Colorado at Colorado Springs professor of English Tom Napierkowski said Monday. “An editor of a dictionary is not some supreme language authority. The editor of a dictionary doesn’t have a privilege or right to create new words. The editor’s job is to tell the rest of us how, and under what circumstances, a word is being used.”

“Tebowing” is being used — and mimicked — by fans, announcers and other professional athletes. It has become trendy.

“With the word ‘Tebowing,’ there are two phenomena at work,” Napierkowski said. “The first one is kind of an interesting modern phenomenon where we take proper names and make them into common nouns.”

An example is how people say they “Xerox” something instead of “photocopy” it, or the inclination to call a tissue a Kleenex.

“But what you’ve got here with ‘Tebowing’ is taking that noun and making it into a verb,” Napierkowski said. “There’s a tendency to take one part of speech and change it into another.”

So since “Tebowing” is in the dictionary, is it an acceptable term?

“You get back to this notion of the credibility of the dictionary,” said Napierkowski, who teaches a course on the history of the English language at UCCS.  

Napierkowski, who had never heard of Tebowing before Monday, compared word useage to clothing.

“Wearing a bathing suit to the beach is perfectly acceptable,” he said. “But it would be a bad idea to wear a bathing suit to a job interview.”

Saying “Tebowing” at a sports bar when watching the Broncos is totally acceptable to Napierkowski.

“Certainly it’s a phenomenon, but I hadn’t heard of it,” he added. “That’s really fascinating.”