Anonymous
Post 03/26/2025 07:38     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
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.


Primarily Argentina, but yes: that’s the origin in today’s popular lexicon.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 23:32     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
disappeared has a specific historical meaning--like kidnapping or abduction, but by a regime in control of the government. it's not a new use of the word. it is happening more in the US than it did before, so that's probably why you haven't heard it before.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 21:58     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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?


What word would you find more natural in that spot?


Abducted.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 19:26     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
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?


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


I say graduated from - Johnnie graduated from Harvard vs Johnnie graduated Harvard.
Am I wrong?


People have said it incorrectly for so long that it sounds right to them. But technically you didn’t graduate from a school. You WERE graduated FROM the school. As in the school was the doer. So the correct way to say it would be, “John was graduated from Harvard in 1950.”


successfully complete an academic degree, course of training, or high school.
"I graduated from West Point in 1965"


Similar:
qualify
pass one's exams
pass
be certified
be licensed
take an academic degree
receive/get one's degree
become a graduate
complete one's studies

informal•US
receive an academic degree from.
"she graduated college in 1970"
North American
confer a degree or other academic qualification on.
"the school graduated more than one hundred arts majors in its first year"
move up to (a more advanced level or position).
"he started with motorbikes but now he's graduated to his first car"
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 19:24     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
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?


If you think you are smart enough to declare things "grammatically incorrect", you should think you are smart enough to read a dictionary too.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 19:23     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote:
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?


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


I say graduated from - Johnnie graduated from Harvard vs Johnnie graduated Harvard.
Am I wrong?


People have said it incorrectly for so long that it sounds right to them. But technically you didn’t graduate from a school. You WERE graduated FROM the school. As in the school was the doer. So the correct way to say it would be, “John was graduated from Harvard in 1950.”
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 19:22     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote: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?


What word would you find more natural in that spot?
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 19:21     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote:
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?


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


I say graduated from - Johnnie graduated from Harvard vs Johnnie graduated Harvard.
Am I wrong?


Harvard graduated Johnny.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 18:58     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
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 in the OED with this usage as a transitive verb. It's grammatically correct.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 18:54     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote:This is embarrassing. Tell me you don’t know anything about history.


+1!
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 18:17     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
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.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 18:14     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Unalived is only used because some of the major social media platforms have banned words (kill, suicide, etc.). Theoretically, disappeared could be rebounding because of the same thing.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 17:46     Subject: Re:Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Anonymous wrote: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“.


A rebirth is occurring in the USA in 2025.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 17:32     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
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?


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


I say graduated from - Johnnie graduated from Harvard vs Johnnie graduated Harvard.
Am I wrong?
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2025 17:26     Subject: Odd new syntax with the word “disappear”
Good examples from past decades here, including in Catch-22 from 1961: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/111998/disappear-as-a-transitive-verb

I think OP is lucky to have lived in a world where this wasn't a familiar concept!