Jun 15
Just heard someone say “conversating” unironically in a meeting.
There’s many mistaken verb back-formations people create from nouns.
A common one is “orientate” from “orientation,” but the actual root verb is to orient.
Saying “oriention” for the noun form is awkward, so an extra syllable is added for flow.
It’s the same in the case of “conversate;” the root verb is to converse (emphasis on the second syllable), and since “a conversion” means something else, an extra syllable is added to create conversation.
Similarly:
“commentate” / comment
“administrate” / administer
“cohabitate” / cohabit