Working in business, I have noticed that "spend" is now seems to be a
noun.  As in "How much was our spend on outside legal counsel last
year?".  When did this happen?  Is it correct grammar.  Why not
"spending"?

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 03 Mar 2004 11:09 PST

Hi, answerguru.  Thanks for looking into this.  I was hoping for some
info. from perhaps a business publication or somesuch.  Let me know if
$5 is too little.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 03 Mar 2004 11:32 PST

Not exactly "official" but here's an entire conference devoted to "the spend":

http://www.ism.ws/Conferences/Services2003.cfm

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 03 Mar 2004 20:44 PST

Thank you all for your input.  If anybody wishes to post an answer, go
aheah.  I just made some money from being in a focus group and am
feeling generous.

Frankly, I think the use of "spend" as a noun is an abomination.
Unfortunately, it appears to be an abomination that is well on its way
toward acceptance.

Here's something that I found amusing. This is in response to an ad
for Karma (a software company) that says "Optimized for speed - Stable
and easy to use - Reduce risk and spend":

"The 'all your base are belong to us' award goes to Karma, with its
assumption that 'spend' is a noun."

http://www.gamedev.net/columns/events/gdc2001/expo/expo6.asp

To shift gears rather sharply...

I recall having seen "spend" used as a noun in a Victorian-era erotic
novel. I believe it was either "Fanny Hill" or "My Secret Life" that
used "spend" as a euphemism for semen. Something like "the sheets were
damp with his spend." You get the drift.

"Techie" thesaurus:

http://www.office-futures.com/tech_talk.htm

Here is a website confirming pinkfreud's comment:

"Pardon me, I'm feeling linguistically challenged for this discussion.
 I can't read a sentence using a noun phrase like "the spend" without
finding it vaguely redolent of Victorian erotica.  So sexy - but so
previous-century, too."

http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/archives/2001-05/0254.html

One of the beauties of English is that it is flexible. Verbs have few
endings, nouns even fewer. The distinction between a verb and a noun
becomes difficult.

I will mow the yard. Mowing is fun. It was a good mow. 

This sequence of sentences can be repeated with many verbs. If it is a
familiar sequence, it sounds right:

I will drive to town. Driving is fun. It was a good drive. 

On the other hand, if it is unfamiliar, it seems awkward to us and we
want to reject it.

I will spend the money. Spending is fun. It was a good spend.

The language is changing fast, and in many ways for the better. There
is no substitute for "It was a good spend" that I can think of. "I
really enjoyed spending that money" isn't quite the same.

I tend to believe that the term "spend" as a noun is probably related
to accounting, marketing or purchasing RECORDS and vicariously then to
the activity itself. In other words, I believe that "the spend" is a
shortened reference to the figures which appear in "the spend column"
often seen on forms used by budget managers, accountants, purchasing
directors or bookkeepers similar to the form seen here used for
ordering, sales analysis or for recording transactions.

http://www.bcn.co.uk/sl1.html

If the question was asked, "How much was our spend on outside legal counsel last
year?", all the accountant would need to do would be refer to the year
in question, find the page relative to legal counsel expenditures and
see what it says in the "spend column" to get the answer. Thus the
amount is not really "the spend" but rather the total figure in the
column entitled "spend".

It's just a guess on my part, but it is a simple explanation that
seems to make sense to me.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

The great and marvelous thing about the English language is that it is
always changing.  Old English, in fact, looks almost nothing like our
modern English; it has a more Germanic quality.  Middle English looks
more like modern English, but there were no standard grammar rules at
the time, which created havoc with spelling.  Today we are constantly
adding new words and new usages for 'old' words, but we are not always
aware of it.  It is not an abomination, as some would claim - the
English language is like a living, breathing organism that changes and
grows with time, just like a human being.  Sometime in the near
future, I predict that we will no longer use "light" and "night", but
instead we will only use "lite" and "nite" with the former being
termed 'archaic'.

It's a bit of a stretch, but businesses may even be confusing the
words "spend" and "expenditure" (ex-spend-iture).