WESTERN WISDOM, Season 5, Episode 8, "Nooning It" audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. The importance of nouns versus verbs, titles versus actions. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
"Nooning It & Other Nouns Into Verbs" blog post article found here: https://www.blybooks.com/2023/02/noun-into-a-verb/
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Nooning It
Stephen Bly
Circa 1995
The old journal that I was reading was written along the Oregon Trail in 1852. It said, “About twelve miles past the lower cutoff on the south side of the Snake River, we found a little shade and nooned it a couple hours.”
What? What did they do?
They nooned it. They stopped for a noon meal, unharnessed the teams, built the fire, fed the animals, and rested.
Converting a Noun to a Verb
In the process, the old pioneers made a noun, boon, into a verb. Those were back in the days when the noon meal was still universally called dinner. And the evening meal, if there was one, was called supper.
I don’t know how well the verb “to noon” has caught on, but I personally enjoy the creativity of twisting a noun into a verb.
The Word Disciple
For instance, take the word disciple. A disciple is aq disciplined follower. To earn the general title of a disciple of Jesus Christ you have to organize your life in orderly fashion, following the pattern set by Jesus Himself. There is no such thing as an undisciplined disciple.
But disciple is also a verb. To disciple someone is to train them in such a way that they begin to react, behave, think, and initiate action in the same manner as their prechosen pattern.
How To Disciple
You can disciple yourself. Or you can disciple someone else. You can be discipled by another. Or you can do all three at the same time. To earn the name disciple, the discipline must show.
Jesus’ Disciples
We all know about the twelve disciples of Jesus, but others in the New Testament were called disciples. In John 19:38, Joseph of Arimathea was called a disciple, as were Timothy, Tabitha, and Ananias, all in the book of Acts.
They had all been discipled. They had been taught how to follow the teaching and the lifestyle of Jesus. It is a title earned by consistent actions, not pious words.
Back to the Old West
In the old days of the long journeys out to the West, you couldn’t say you nooned it until you actually stopped and made a midday camp. Nowadays, you and I are not real disciples until we’ve been discipled. This expresses an act, an occurrence, a mode of being.
Let others decide where to call us disciples or not. Being labeled the noun is not nearly as important as experiencing the verb.