Grammar Moses: Why is avenging so popular?
Jamie Smith is a voracious reader, notably of British mystery novels.
"I've been seeing 'revenge' used as a verb, and it always causes a me to stumble," she wrote in an email. "I am expecting 'avenge.' But the other day I came to a screeching halt on 'revenger.' I've always thought that 'avenge' is a verb, with 'avenger' the person seeking 'revenge.'
"If I'd seen this once I'd consider it an editing error, but being a mystery buff I've been seeing it more and more often in the newer novels. What is considered the current accepted usages of these words?"
Everyone loves a hero, Jamie.
Take a look at the Top 25 highest-grossing films of all time. Ten of them sprang from the world of Marvel's Avengers. TEN of them.
"Avengers: Endgame" from 2019 eclipsed such monster hits as "Avatar" and "Titanic" to take the all-time leading spot with just shy of $2.8 billion in worldwide gross box office receipts. That's just shy of $1 billion per hour of that interminably long film.
The most paltry producer in the series was 2008's "The Incredible Hulk," with Edward Norton as the titular green embodiment of rage. It managed just $265 million in worldwide gross.
No knock on Norton, who stars opposite/within Brad Pitt in my favorite film, "Fight Club," but it's no wonder producers turned to Mark Ruffalo to replace Norton in subsequent Hulk appearances.
What do the Avengers do? They fight to save the world. They seek revenge on behalf of other people.
That's what makes them heroes.
To avenge is to seek revenge for others.
To revenge (yes, it is a verb, too) is to seek revenge for oneself.
Think Uma Thurman in the "Kill Bill" movies. Her mentor and colleagues shot her in the head and left her for dead on her wedding day. Killed the rest of the wedding party for good measure.
What's a girl to do?
It's a miracle that Quentin Tarantino hasn't already titled one of his movies "The Revenger," because that's what all of his movies are about.
Tarantino's movies make a lot of money, but nowhere near what the Avenger movies make. His top-grossing film, 2012's "Django Unchained," took in $425 million, which isn't even double what the biggest flop in the Avenger universe took in.
That'll tell you something about how we value heroes over those who seek retribution for themselves.
I bet none of you remembers - or even saw - the 1990 film, "The Revenger," starring Oliver Reed in decline. I can't find anything on the interwebs that indicates how little money that gem made.
Lost your edge?
The headline read: "House committee hones in on housing crisis."
No, it wasn't ours.
One "hones" a knife edge to saw an aluminum can in half and still make paper-thin tomato slices.
One "homes" in on a location, a solution, a target. Think of homing signals and homing pigeons.
Puntastic!
Wherever you were a week ago, you might have heard my wife groan at something I said.
We were driving down the highway, and I passed a pickup truck toting a trailer carrying two of those things that adorn the top of a barn or a church.
"Did you see that, hon?" I exclaimed. "A coupla cupolas!"
Write carefully!
• Jim Baumann is vice president/executive editor of the Daily Herald. You can buy Jim's book, "Grammar Moses: A humorous guide to grammar and usage," at grammarmosesthebook.com. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com and put "Grammar Moses" in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.