to disappear (transitive)

[Josh_]

This thread reminded of a current usage of the word disappear -- as a transtitive verb meaning to make someone disappear -- through kidnapping or whatever. The passive being, of course, to be disappeared.

Jimmy Hoffa was disappeared.

Josef Stalin disappeared many dissident politicians.

So, what are your opinions on the use of this word as a transitive verb?

 

[ElaineG]

I don't think it's "proper" English, but I do use "disappeared" this way on occasion as a conscious borrowing from Spanish, where the term desaparacidos was used for all the people who were kidnapped/tortured etc. under Pinochet in Chile. Extrapolating from that, I've said that other dictatorial governments have "disappeared" people, but there's always quotes around it in my mind when I say it, because it doesn't, in the end, sound that great in English.

 

[Joelline]

I've never seen disappear used as a transitive verb in AE. In AE, your sentences would be:

Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.

Josef Stalin made many dissident politicians disappear. (using a causative construction)

 

[river]

"To cause to vanish" sounds better, but the use of "disappear" as a transitve verb seems to be increasing. "For my next trick, I will now disappear you!" Sounds funny, doesn't it?

 

[DaleC]

This thread reminded of a current usage of the word disappear -- as a transtitive verb meaning to make someone disappear -- through kidnapping or whatever. The passive being, of course, to be disappeared.

Jimmy Hoffa was disappeared.

Josef Stalin disappeared many dissident politicians.

So, what are your opinions on the use of this word as a transitive verb?

The only people who used it in English were people discussing events in Latin America in the 1980s. Usually these people were in solidarity with the victims. The usage just didn't catch on for wider contexts or among a wider segment of the English speaking community. At any rate, given the changes in Latin America in the 1990s, this usage in English is now only a historical curiosity.

 

[virtdave]

It's a fairly recent use of the word, but is indeed listed as a transitive verb on http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=disappear
with the meaning noted above.

 

[cuchuflete]

This thread reminded of a current usage of the word disappear -- as a transtitive verb meaning to make someone disappear -- through kidnapping or whatever. The passive being, of course, to be disappeared.

Jimmy Hoffa was disappeared.

Josef Stalin disappeared many dissident politicians.

So, what are your opinions on the use of this word as a transitive verb?

Urban legend has it that Mr. Hoffa was cemented in the Meadowlands, after having been disappeared. Hmmm...I share Elaine's view. I might, rarely, use it, but with mental quote marks around it.

I just googled "disappeared them" and found about 500 listings. Many of these referred to the Videla regime and similar ones, and many others put "" around the word.

Whether it will stay and grow in usage is an open question.
I won't be sorry if it disappears.

 

[ElaineG]

The only people who used it in English were people discussing events in Latin America in the 1980s.

Not true.

It's not exactly as if the problem of government-sponsored disappearances disappeared with the disappearance of certain governments in Latin America. Consequently, the use, awkward though it may be, continues to get some play.

 

[panjandrum]

Disappear as a transitive verb has been around for longer than we all might think. While many examples relate to Latin America in the 20th Century, there are other, earlier, uses:
1897 Chem. News 19 Mar. 143 We progressively disappear the faces of the dodecahedron.

 

[mjscott]

"We progressively disappear the faces of the dodechahedron"?
(hmmm....wonder if I can work it into a sentence at my next cocktail party....)
Truly--there was a Chem. News periodical that's been around since 1897? Its contents have not been disappeared--but chronicled?

(To use disappear as a transitive verb still is awkward for me....)

 

[fer enough]

i just wanted to say that "desaparecer" disappeared it is not a transitive verb in spanish and that the borrowing is not a grammatical one, but merely lexical. it is not proper english, but english diccionaries are not normative, but descriptive so there will be included everything that journalist keep using (becouse they once found it fancy or appropriate).
i don't know much about what you english natives take as right, but in the spanish speaking world journalist are not included in that group.