ugh

there was a time (long ago) when i labored under the misapprehension that someone who augured bad fortune was a “harbringer”. this seemed to make logical sense, what with the word “bring” comfortably nestled among those extra letters, and the word meaning what it does. anyway, I was put in my place by my betters, and figured that that was the end of the story for that particular word. until today, when I discovered that “harbinger” can be either a noun or a transitive verb (as in “john was ever the one to harbinger bad tidings.”), and the worms spilled forth from the can anew. harbinger as a verb? so having done so in the past is to have “harbingered”? and in the continuous form, are you harbingering? (my spell check seems to approve of both of these words so I suppose so.) it’s ugliness all around, but the alternative, I guess, is far worse: harbinge as a verb is just plain wrong, and harbinging sounds like a group of cantonese people feasting on prawns. (god help me, I’m channeling tjan.)