Talk:avoiding

RFV discussion

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avoiding

avoiding as a noun, "the action of avoiding". RJFJR 16:57, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

• Nah. That's avoidance. SemperBlotto 17:01, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

>100 b.g.c. hits for "avoidings". Most present participles seem to have become attestable nouns. Sometimes there is a word I'd prefer (like "avoidance"); sometimes not. This one has been used by Sidney and Carlyle. DCDuring TALK 20:08, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Isn't that the w:gerund? If we do this, then we add a noun heading for the gerund of every single English verb, don't we? Anyone know if the gerund is always identical to the present participle? —Michael Z. 2009-04-07 22:45 z

Sure, it's just a gerund. No dictionary lists them separately. -- WikiPedant 23:20, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

We already have hundreds, many with their plural forms. Most English dictionaries don't have entries for inflected forms generally and it has long been policy and practice here to have entries for inflected forms. Not all gerunds are actually attestable as nouns, so there is nothing automatic about having one for each verb (let alone its plural). Nothing in WT:CFI would lead to their being omitted. This is RfV anyway, so only attestation is germane. If we feel they ought be excluded, we should start a BP discussion preparatory to a proposal and vote. DCDuring TALK 00:43, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I was going to make the point about us already having hundreds. The main issue in terms of dictionary entries (or perhaps I'm just coming from a Scrabble viewpoint) is whether they can be pluralised. I expect almost everybody would agree that beatings is okay but defragmentings is not. As DCD suggests, it has to come down to attestation. Equinox ◑ 01:02, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure I'd bet against even "defragmentings", there being no perfect substitute. DCDuring TALK 02:13, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

defragmentations is a perfect substitute for me: it's the plural of the action or process of defragmenting. Perhaps debatable, but I don't personally have a feeling for the ing being different from the ion. Equinox ◑ 02:41, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

RFV failed, noun section removed, because I don't like it, and it's clearly not in widespread use, and I'm too lazy to check DCDuring's claim that the plural gets >100 b.g.c. hits (with the implication that at least three of them are relevant, and mutually independent). If someone wants to override this "RFV failed" by actually citing this, be my guest. :-)   —Ruakh_TALK 02:38, 17 November 2009 (UTC)