"fake out" as a noun?

Question

Isn't that supposed to be a verbal phrase?Such as "I faked out to the teacher pretending that I've finished the assignment"?Or am I wrong?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

To my ear, both uses are casual, bordering on slang.

I'd say the use as a "verbal phrase" is the more common - usually used with the object in the middle:

"to fake somebody out" - "I faked him out!"

but not always - "I faked out the boss!"

I think these transitive uses are more common than your intransitive one:

("I faked out to the teacher." "I faked out.")

As a noun, "That was just a fake-out." (Sometimes the hyphen is used, sometimes not.)

You've probably seen all the special application uses on the net -

video games - even the name of a music group!

Here's a stock-trading expression:

http://www.forexblog.org/2011/05/introduction-to-technical-analysis-morning-fake-out.html

Chivalry · Answer

Thank you for all the information, Avangi. And yup, I made all that transitive sentence up, so yuck it up!LOL

But one more question right here,

If the hyphen's omitted when it's used as a noun, should there be a space between the two words(which is, fakeout)?

Avangi · Answer

Ha! My Scrabble list doesn't include "fakeout," but neither does it include any hyphenated words!

These are relatively new terms, so dictionaries will vary.

Google hits are 333,000 for one word, 1,040,000 for two.

Unfortunately, there's no way (that I know of) to exclude the hyphenated version from the two-word list.

Edit. I should have stuck with the Scrabble list!

As it turns out, all the one-word Google hits are for URL's.

So the correct answer to your question is, "Yes, there should be a space between the two words when the hyphen's omittted."

Chivalry · Answer

Avangi" Unfortunately, there's no way (that I know of) to exclude the hyphenated version from the two-word list.[/quoteDoes this mean the two versions can be used both as a noun and a phrasal verb?

And by the way,

is it both as or as both in my sentence? To be correct?LOL

Avangi · Answer

chivalryDoes this mean the two versions can be used both as a noun and a phrasal verb?

Yes.

chivalryis it both as or as both in my sentence? To be correct?

Both are correct, but I prefer your version.

Avangi · Answer

chivalry I made all that transitive sentence up

Actually, it's the other way around. Your example in the original post is intransitive: I faked out to the teacher.

You didn't do it to the teacher, although it may sound as if you did. (I faked out the teacher is transitive.)

I fell asleep on the teacher. This is intransitive! (I put the teacher to sleep is transitive.)

Sometimes I think I'm the only one here who finds "transitive/intransitive" an extremely useful concept.

"fake out" as a noun?

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