Author Topic: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?  (Read 2700 times)

Denise

Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« on: March 28, 2019, 12:22:38 AM »
Yikes. I find no clear answers. This verb is not in dictionaries, and when I google I only find people debating, without a clear preference.

I'm wondering if the sci-fi readers know what's most common.

I want to say that a character was rendered immobile and unconscious with a stunning pistol incorrectly called a taser or tazer, since TASER is a trademark.

Do I say: A. A character was tased   B. A character was tasered C. A character was tazed D. A character was tazered.

I wrote tased, I think I lean toward the s sounds because of Canadian English, but I try to write in American English. I can change it for tazed, and even for tazered, but I don't like the sound of this last one. I'll change it if that's what's most used.

Any suggestions?
« Last Edit: March 28, 2019, 01:11:24 AM by Denise »
 

Gerri Attrick

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2019, 12:33:48 AM »
On the few occasions that I’ve seen it written (online news sites like the BBC) it has been tasered.

This makes sense. Taser is a made up word based on the similarity to laser. Both noun and verb are the same, so you taser - not tase - someone. Ergo, it should be tasered in the past tense.

Hope that helps, Denise.
 
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munboy

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2019, 12:37:24 AM »
Zapped  :icon_rofl:

I was in the same boat in one of my books. If I remember right, I went with tazed based solely off the "Don't taze me bro" meme from a few years ago. To me, that told me that's how people refer to the act of using a teaser. To taze. Or to be tazed. But, in context, doing it this way made sense because my book was in first person with a teen narrator, so this would be the way he talked.
 
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Denise

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2019, 01:08:07 AM »
If I remember right, I went with tazed based solely off the "Don't taze me bro" meme from a few years ago. To me, that told me that's how people refer to the act of using a teaser. To taze.

Thanks, super helpful. I'm still confused because I found both "Don't taze me, bro," and "Don't tase me, bro."

Apparently, "Don't tase me, bro" was registered as a trademark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Florida_Taser_incident

I have close 3rd person teenager narrator. I think I'll go with tase as a verb, but I can use more input.

On the few occasions that I’ve seen it written (online news sites like the BBC) it has been tasered.

This makes sense. Taser is a made up word based on the similarity to laser. Both noun and verb are the same, so you taser - not tase - someone. Ergo, it should be tasered in the past tense.


Yes, it helps. I read somewhere that the verb for hammer is hammer, not ham, :icon_rofl: and thus taser should follow the same logic.  Still, people use tase (or taze) as a verb.

David VanDyke

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Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2019, 03:09:23 AM »
Colloquially, in the US military, when we aimed a laser targeting spot on something for a laser-guided bomb to hit, we would say "lase," pronounced "laze." As in, "I'm lasing the target."

That was just colloquial, but it's pretty common. It's based on the "-er" construction of the word. A killer kills. A washer washes. A laser lases. I would say that it would be very natural for an audience, especially a fiction audience, to accept "tase" or "taze" as a verb.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2019, 12:02:22 PM by David VanDyke »
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notthatamanda

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2019, 04:36:36 AM »
Yikes. I find no clear answers. This verb is not in dictionaries, and when I google I only find people debating, without a clear preference.

I'm wondering if the sci-fi readers know what's most common.

I want to say that a character was rendered immobile and unconscious with a stunning pistol incorrectly called a taser or tazer, since TASER is a trademark.

Do I say: A. A character was tased   B. A character was tasered C. A character was tazed D. A character was tazered.

I wrote tased, I think I lean toward the s sounds because of Canadian English, but I try to write in American English. I can change it for tazed, and even for tazered, but I don't like the sound of this last one. I'll change it if that's what's most used.

Any suggestions?

My, completely unhelpful, opinion; you'll get told you are wrong either way.  If you do author's notes at the end, you can try to explain your reasoning, if you think it is worth it. 
 
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Wifey

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2019, 07:38:10 AM »
In my last book, I used tased. I’m in the US.
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Jeff Tanyard

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2019, 07:46:20 AM »
If I recall correctly, I think I just went with "stun gun" and "zapped" to avoid any potential trademark issues.   :shrug
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Kate Elizabeth

Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2019, 07:55:33 AM »
I've only seen it as tased and tasered.  Whatever Veronica Mars did.
 
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TimothyEllis

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Re: Tased, tasered, tazed, or tazered?
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2019, 02:27:46 PM »
The standard response in my books is "Choose one."

I dont see it matters. Just be consistent.
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