To be filed under "um...yep," it's a new site that just popped up that's dedicated to getting the word "concept" recognized as a verb in the dictionary (in particular, Merriam-Webster's fine book o' words). If you're in a creative field, especially the ad world, you've probably been privy to the word used in the way explained on the site. "Hey, Bob, let's do some concepting on this project." or "Damnit Bob, don't just sit there! Concept!" So there's a petition and everything, and although we're 99% sure there's something funny going on here, stranger things have happened. We suppose, if VJ can be in the dictionary, the language is already pretty screwed as it is. Not that it made all that much sense to begin with. Here's the explination:

At the core of every advertising campaign lies a concepting session where shared thoughts manifest into brilliant ideas. As it reads now, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines ADVERTISING as, "The action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially by paid announcements." Though this definition was probably written sometime during the Fillmore administration, some components still hold true today. These "announcements," that once came in the form of posters hawking remedy elixirs, now represent a thirty-second spot, a print ad, a billboard, or a viral campaign. This current definition however only describes the final product of our creative process where the work is polished, shined, and unveiled to the public.

What remains to be defined is the method used to develop these campaigns. For a book that identifies a vast number of professions from fossil finders (paleontologist) to glorified tooth-brushers (dental hygienist), Merriam-Webster fails to properly record the full scope of advertising. In the end one could dismiss Verb4Concept, arguing that "concepting" is just brainstorming, but if that's the case then the argument can also be made that leprosy is merely a collection of boils.