Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”

[Anonymous]

I have noticed a new syntax lately and don’t understand the origin or why the words are phrased this way. I’ve read it online mostly and notice it here on DCUM but in other places as well and even being used by people whom I know have advanced degrees and English is their first language. I find it happens mostly in political discussions. An example might be, “Larlo was just minding his own business when the boogie man disappeared him.” Can anyone shed some light on the origin of this?

[Anonymous]

Huh....I don't think I've ever seen this. But my brain also has a tendency to autocorrect and I had to reread the passage again because my brain thought it said "disappeared on him" which didn't make sense in the context of the sentence.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t new. You’re talking about using disappear as a transitive verb, which is usually reserved for describing people being killed/kidnapped like by a political regime. Not sure of the origin, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new. You’re talking about using disappear as a transitive verb, which is usually reserved for describing people being killed/kidnapped like by a political regime. Not sure of the origin, though.

But it is grammatically incorrect. So when did it become mainstream?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new. You’re talking about using disappear as a transitive verb, which is usually reserved for describing people being killed/kidnapped like by a political regime. Not sure of the origin, though.

But it is grammatically incorrect. So when did it become mainstream?

I associate it with the regimes in Chile and Argentina in the 70s and 80s, and I've been hearing it that context as long as I've known about those events. U2's "Mothers of the Disappeared" came out in 1987.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new. You’re talking about using disappear as a transitive verb, which is usually reserved for describing people being killed/kidnapped like by a political regime. Not sure of the origin, though.

But it is grammatically incorrect. So when did it become mainstream?

I associate it with the regimes in Chile and Argentina in the 70s and 80s, and I've been hearing it that context as long as I've known about those events. U2's "Mothers of the Disappeared" came out in 1987.

Yes, exactly. Someone who hasn’t heard of this must be very young.

[Anonymous]

Unalive is also being used more frequently.

[Anonymous]

It became popular during the 1970s, when the military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile were "disappearing"people. I imagine it was a use influenced by the widespread use of it in Spanish at the time (los desaparecieron, los desaparecidos).

According to this link, there were some isolated earlier uses but it became common with the Latin American political disappearances.
https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/disappear.html#:~:text=The%20other%20is%20from%20a,of%20the%20Argentine%2Dinspired%20usage.

[Anonymous]

Language changes. Welcome to the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new. You’re talking about using disappear as a transitive verb, which is usually reserved for describing people being killed/kidnapped like by a political regime. Not sure of the origin, though.

But it is grammatically incorrect. So when did it become mainstream?

It’s no worse than “I was gifted this” or “he graduated from”

[Anonymous]

This is embarrassing. Tell me you don’t know anything about history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It became popular during the 1970s, when the military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile were "disappearing"people. I imagine it was a use influenced by the widespread use of it in Spanish at the time (los desaparecieron, los desaparecidos).

According to this link, there were some isolated earlier uses but it became common with the Latin American political disappearances.
https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/disappear.html#:~:text=The%20other%20is%20from%20a,of%20the%20Argentine%2Dinspired%20usage.

+1 you are/will be hearing it more because the Trump administration is "disappearing" people, aka imprisoning/deporting people without due process.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it wasn’t “unalived”?

“Disappeared” in this form isn’t really mainstream, but it’s also not new at all.

[Anonymous]

You might find this informative. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/usa/us1004/4.htm#:~:text=In%20the%201970s%20and%201980s,Nicaragua%2C%20engaged%20in%20forced%20disappearances.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, military regimes throughout Latin America, including Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Nicaragua, engaged in forced disappearances.
When discovered, the Latin American dictatorships sought to justify their abuses by invoking the threat posed by leftists and “terrorists“.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it wasn’t “unalived”?

“Disappeared” in this form isn’t really mainstream, but it’s also not new at all.

I’ve heard it a lot the past few weeks, in the context of protesters or legal immigrants being arrested and then it’s not clear what has happened to them.