Technology is introducing us to a new language.

Specifically, it’s turning nouns into verbs.

Two such terms stand out.

The first one is “text.” It used to mean a body of type. Text was a noun. Today it’s become a verb, as in, “My boyfriend, like, texted me just a minute ago and, like, he was so cute trying to tell me he was doing it while driving his car down the freeway at, like, 80 miles an hour.”

OK, “texted” is the past tense of the verb “text.” But you get the point, right?

Now comes the newest version of a common word: friend.

My wife and I were having dinner one night this past weekend with a young couple with whom we are friends. I informed the young woman that I had just opened a Facebook account. “Oh, really?” she said. “Now I’ll have to ‘friend’ you.”

Huh?

The term “friend” used to mean only someone with whom one is quite close; the person to whom you can tell the truth. You share secrets with that person, who knows more about you than you know about yourself.

Now it’s a verb, which describes the act of becoming a friend on a Facebook network.

I was hoping that “parent” would be the last noun to become a verb (e.g., “I am learning how to ‘parent’ my kids”). I never imagined what technology would do to the English language.

I’m sure there’ll be much more to come.