Which Would You Do: Unfriend or Defriend?

I don't think I've used either word. Talking about online friendships in real life feels silly to me, so I usually don't. I have "removed/purged friends" many times, but never considered having a special word for the task. Out of the two, I think "unfriend" sounds the most normal.

I wonder what people in 50 years are going to think when they see this word in the dictionary....and if it will be moot by then or not.

Just think the extent of the vocabulary is going to be, with basically numerous words meaning the same.......don't they also remove words that are "out of style/use"?

p911

Many people unfriended the English language long ago. Gibberish and text-speak reign supreme now.

<...Gibberish and text-speak reign supreme now...>

Were it ever so!

What about unfriend is like unhand, to let go.

Unhand even comes with an example, replace unhand with unfriend.

un⋅hand

   /ʌnˈhænd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [uhn-hand] Show IPA Use unhand in a Sentence See web results for unhand See images of unhand –verb (used with object)

Origin:
1595–1605; un- ² + hand Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

p911

In 50 years? Heck, it will be a disease and there will be commercials all over for the new drug to cure it.

(50 years from now)......What are you trying to tell me,

I'm sick and going to die.

Global warming is on the horizon.

My aunt Martha has hemorrhoids.

Your taking a vacation to Mexico?

They found WMD in Iraq.

I don't understand what your trying to say..

What ever it is, CR4 should update their spell check with Unfriend or Defriend.

p911

"I don't understand what you're trying to say.."

I was responding to reply #1 from Sharkles, who wrote:

"I wonder what people in 50 years are going to think when they see this word in the dictionary....and if it will be moot by then or not."

JavaHead

I was joking with the meaning or multiple meaning of new words evolving, society might be hard to keep up with.

p911

Ah, your intention escaped me upon initial digestion but I'm tuned into the same frequency now, so I'm tracking. Thank you for squaring me away.

society might be hard to keep up with.

You're too close to see it's going in circles as if being led by the nose

So what are YOU trying to say.......

Uh-oh you're a goner, the trick is to acquire the disease after the cure has been achieved

Your you're

I have no friends so the problem has never arisen.

Nobody loves me

Before I even think about unfriend or defriend, I have to figure out what hypermiling and locavore mean. Does this mean I am a bit behind the times? How many years?

Not that I have heard of either one of these prior to this blog. But, I think both would have their place:

Defriending sounds like the physical, tangible, act that the person is doing when they are removing you from their list. Unfriended sound more like the resultant intangible condition that the targeted person has acquired.

Besides, Defriend sounds too similar to Befriend, which is already a word.

Reminds me of grade school grammar class when we had an assignment to make up a word, define it, and use it in a sentence. Mine was:

pudging - the action of fluffing your pillow... I got a gold star for that one

JavaHead

I don't follow, the logic of befriending is a commitment not taken or given lightly; this contention seems out of context within the spectre of the relationship and it's inherent obligations an is therefore a moot instance of emotional drivel.

...which?

(A) do you "un-forest" the Amazon Basin?

(B) do you "de-forest" the Amazon Basin?

...apply the same result to "...friend"

Great article Jaxy!

While reading, I was trying to figure out if a "hide" function in Facebook qualifies as an un-friend or de-friend?

I usually use the hide function, because I'm a softy and like to give folks 2nd chances.

Can't remember ever un-friending or de-friending someone, but it's still early days for me with Facebook. I try and screen folks as they make friend requests to me. I usually ask questions like "How do I know you - from my CR4 blogs?" and ask them up-front before accepting a "friend" request.

I've been at a loss for word guidance ever since Kathleen Taylor from Merriam-Webster's Word for the Wise went of the air. She used to work at WAMC in Albany, New York, my local public radio station. So it's nice to see another person do this word usage work now, right here in CR4! :)

Couldn't find either word just now at Merriam-Webster.com. This site traces its ancestory to Ben Franklin, so maybe that explains why?

- Larry

What is wrong with sociaty now days? All this political correctness has everyone making up there own words,creating there own little worlds where there is no right or wrong, picking apart every fiber this sociaty was founded on. When will this insanity STOP.

You could have stopped some of it by spiking that irrelevant post.

Why be satisfied with two syllables, when you can use five? Or seven? Or ten...

disenfriendify: to perform the act of disenfriendification.

And, of course,

antidisenfriendificationism: a philosophy which opposes the practice of disenfriendification.

So... is "unfriend" one of those negatives without a positive, like "impeccable" or "incorrigible," or is "friend" a verb now? As in

"Wow, I'd really like to friend that hot blond over there!"

The positive, "befriend," has been mentioned in this thread already.

Another synonym for "unfriend" would be "excommunicate."

Yours truly, Editor Crankshaft